Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Hartford, CT
March 15–17, 2019
by Michael J. Moran
The title of the sixth “Masterworks” program of the HSO’s
75th season may sound strange at first glance, but the musical tradition of
Eastern European Jews known as klezmer often features the clarinet, one of
Mozart’s favorite instruments.
The concert opened with an ebullient account by the
orchestra and their Music Director Carolyn Kuan of the little-known overture to
Mozart’s early opera “Lucio Silla.” Written when the composer was only sixteen,
it lacks the seamless structure and emotional depth of his later opera
overtures, but some dramatic passages and the quiet central section hinted at
the mature Mozart to come.
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| David Krakauer |
Next, clarinetist David Krakauer was the featured soloist in
Osvaldo Golijov’s “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind,” composed in 1994
for clarinet and string quartet and arranged in 2005 for clarinet and string
orchestra, as heard here. An Argentinean-born Jew, Golijov was inspired by
writings of Isaac, a 12th-century French rabbi, and mystic, to base each of its
five short movements on a different Jewish prayer.
The quiet opening and closing movements showed off the
hushed radiance and full mellow tone of the clarinet that may have appealed to
Mozart. But in the livelier inner movements it sometimes revealed a harsh,
dissonant, frenzied sound as well. These qualities were even more prominent in
Krakauer’s two encores: a “semi-improvised” recap of his decades-long career,
and a klezmer-wedding dance. Accompanied by a buoyant Maestra and orchestra in
the Golijov and the dance, he tossed it all off with virtuosic control and
jubilant high spirits.
Following the two HSO premieres in the first half, the
program concluded after intermission with Mozart’s familiar 39th symphony, the
first of the final trilogy that he wrote within two very productive months
during 1788. Kuan led an affectionate performance, relaxed in the opening
Adagio-Allegro movement, flowing in the Andante, playful in the Minuet, and
exuberant in the “Allegro” finale.
In introducing his encores, Krakauer cited the joy of the
klezmer tradition he had inherited from his Eastern European ancestors to
condemn recent violence against Muslims in New Zealand and Jews in Pittsburgh,
comments that clearly resonated with the appreciative audience.
