Saturday, January 9, 2016

Mozart & Mahler

There was one thing that got me through this difficult first week back at school after winter break and that was the prospect of listening to the Utah Symphony play Mozart, my favorite composer, on Friday night.  I've said this before but I credit the movie Amadeus with turning me on to classical music.  I remember distinctly the first time I watched it.  It was a Sunday night when I was in junior high and I was sitting on the floor in my parents' bedroom leaning against the foot of their bed watching it on HBO.  It was getting late and I'm sure that they wanted to go to sleep but they could see that I was absolutely transfixed and let me continue watching!  Several years later I was given a VHS copy for Christmas, the first movie I ever owned!  (When I moved to my new house I donated all of my VHS tapes and, later, I regretted that I gave away Amadeus.  I received a Blu-Ray copy for Christmas this year!)  Needless to say, I fell in love with Mozart's music after watching Amadeus over and over so I try to attend any concert featuring it.  Friday night the orchestra, along with soloist Augustin Hadelich, played Concerto No. 4 for Violin and Orchestra.  This piece totally exemplifies what I love about Mozart:  it is light, airy, romantic, and beautiful (not to be confused with simple).  Hadelich was absolutely brilliant (receiving a thunderous standing ovation) and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance!  But Mahler, though!  After the intermission the orchestra played Symphony No. 7 and I read in the program notes that this is considered the least popular of Mahler's symphonies.  It could very well be my favorite!  More than any other symphony that I've heard during the Mahler Cycle this year and last, this piece has made me a Mahler fan for life!  The first movement is rousing and exuberant with an incredible theme played by the brass, not to mention the horns, the harps (there were two), the timpani, and the crash cymbals!  There were moments when I couldn't catch my breath and, mind you, this was only the first movement!  It only got better!  The second movement features a playful theme by the woodwinds and the third movement is so vigorous that Maestro Thierry Fischer lost his baton (in what might possibly my favorite moment, ever, at a Utah Symphony concert!)  The fourth movement is beautiful and atmospheric with lovely violin and horn solos echoed by a guitar and mandolin!  It gave me goosebumps!  The fifth and final movement begins, spectacularly, with timpani and ends the only way it possibly could:  with the ringing of the chimes! I loved it!  It goes without saying that it was an exceptional evening and you should go here right now and get yourself a ticket for tonight's performance!

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