Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

June 8's Mainly Mozart: Handel, Mozart, Mendelssohn

Jeremy Denk was quick but did not hurry

Maestro Francis explained that the tone of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 is in the vein of opera buffa.
Maestro Francis explained that the tone of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 is in the vein of opera buffa.

On Saturday, June 8, The Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra exploded into the Balboa Theatre with a performance of Handel’s Royal Fireworks Music, thereby opening their five-concert series with music director Michael Francis. Full disclosure: I am an employee of Mainly Mozart.

After several conversations with musical snobs I call friends, we concluded it would be near impossible to improve upon the performance of all three pieces on the program.

Mendelssohn composed Symphony No. 5 when he was 21.

The only objection was that the Royal Fireworks could have been more effective on period instruments.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The rebuttal would be that the style of the performance was of the period, so far as that can be determined. The rhythmical integrity of the performance would have made Christopher Hogwood proud.

Hard on the heels of Handel was Mozart. The Mainly Mozart Festival is in year four of a six-year journey through Mozart’s life as a composer and personality. This fourth year is all about Mozart’s first golden days in Vienna. It was during this time that Mozart became aware of Handel’s music via the salon concerts of Baron von Suiten. In 1782 Mozart wrote to his father that he spent every Sunday playing Bach and Handel with von Suiten.

Following the Royal Fireworks was Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. The pianist on this occasion was McArthur Genius Grant recipient Jeremy Denk. Denk is no stranger to San Diego audiences. To anyone who attended, his concert of Bach’s Goldberg Variations remains a peak experience of the solo piano repertoire in this city.

It could be argued that the tempo of the opening and concluding movements of the concerto would line up with period-performance practices. Denk was quick but did not hurry. His playing was mercurial but this quicksilver was not willy nilly.

While the piano was being brought into place, Maestro Michael Francis explained that the tone of this concerto is in the vein of opera buffa. One year later Mozart would generate the greatest opera buffa of them all, The Marriage of Figaro.

The final piece was Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5: Reformation. This piece was the second symphony Mendelssohn composed, but he suppressed it during his lifetime. It was, therefore, the fifth symphony printed thereby giving it the aura of a later composition. It was composed in 1830 when Mendelssohn was 21 years old. It had its premiere in 1832 and was not published until 1868, 21 years after Mendelssohn had died.

The audacity of the young Mendelssohn is impressive. At the age of 21, he tried to integrate the Catholic, Lutheran, and Hebrew traditions. The opening bars quote Palestrina followed by a quotation of the Dresden Amen while the third movement refers to the tones of a Hebrew prayer before the final movement erects Luther’s A Mighty Fortress is our God.

The Mainly Mozart Festival runs through June 22.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego car vandals – getting bolder?

Tesla Cybertruck throws down the gauntlet
Next Article

Crystal Pier can take the hits

Unlike Ocean Beach, it will probably avoid the wrecking ball
Maestro Francis explained that the tone of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 is in the vein of opera buffa.
Maestro Francis explained that the tone of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 is in the vein of opera buffa.

On Saturday, June 8, The Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra exploded into the Balboa Theatre with a performance of Handel’s Royal Fireworks Music, thereby opening their five-concert series with music director Michael Francis. Full disclosure: I am an employee of Mainly Mozart.

After several conversations with musical snobs I call friends, we concluded it would be near impossible to improve upon the performance of all three pieces on the program.

Mendelssohn composed Symphony No. 5 when he was 21.

The only objection was that the Royal Fireworks could have been more effective on period instruments.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The rebuttal would be that the style of the performance was of the period, so far as that can be determined. The rhythmical integrity of the performance would have made Christopher Hogwood proud.

Hard on the heels of Handel was Mozart. The Mainly Mozart Festival is in year four of a six-year journey through Mozart’s life as a composer and personality. This fourth year is all about Mozart’s first golden days in Vienna. It was during this time that Mozart became aware of Handel’s music via the salon concerts of Baron von Suiten. In 1782 Mozart wrote to his father that he spent every Sunday playing Bach and Handel with von Suiten.

Following the Royal Fireworks was Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. The pianist on this occasion was McArthur Genius Grant recipient Jeremy Denk. Denk is no stranger to San Diego audiences. To anyone who attended, his concert of Bach’s Goldberg Variations remains a peak experience of the solo piano repertoire in this city.

It could be argued that the tempo of the opening and concluding movements of the concerto would line up with period-performance practices. Denk was quick but did not hurry. His playing was mercurial but this quicksilver was not willy nilly.

While the piano was being brought into place, Maestro Michael Francis explained that the tone of this concerto is in the vein of opera buffa. One year later Mozart would generate the greatest opera buffa of them all, The Marriage of Figaro.

The final piece was Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5: Reformation. This piece was the second symphony Mendelssohn composed, but he suppressed it during his lifetime. It was, therefore, the fifth symphony printed thereby giving it the aura of a later composition. It was composed in 1830 when Mendelssohn was 21 years old. It had its premiere in 1832 and was not published until 1868, 21 years after Mendelssohn had died.

The audacity of the young Mendelssohn is impressive. At the age of 21, he tried to integrate the Catholic, Lutheran, and Hebrew traditions. The opening bars quote Palestrina followed by a quotation of the Dresden Amen while the third movement refers to the tones of a Hebrew prayer before the final movement erects Luther’s A Mighty Fortress is our God.

The Mainly Mozart Festival runs through June 22.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Patch Croome, Sara Petite, Buck-O-Nine, Justin Froese, Nardwuar’s Video Vault

Americana, ska, punk, and solo singer-songwriters in Del Mar, Kensington, Mission Valley, Oceanside, Little Italy
Next Article

Black Lips, Guided Bird Walk of Oak Grove Loop, Valley Arts Festival

Events November 14-November 16, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader