Wave hello to Mozart
Mercury Baroque strikes a bigger, bolder note with its new 2011-12 season
Performing music compositions of the baroque period on modern instruments is akin to translating Shakespeare into colloquial street language and staging it in a thick Southern drawl. Sure, it does the trick, and the themes are timeless.
But something is amiss.
Houston (and the international community) owes a lot to Mercury Baroque, an ensemble that exemplifies the philosophies that were alive and well from before Johann Sebastian Bach to circa Ludwig van Beethoven. Put aside any misconceptions you have about music of that period. It is about drama, passion and emotion while attempting to rouse a strong reaction from listeners.
And that is exactly what Mercury Baroque's just revealed the 2011-2012 season will be about, while expanding its repertoire, size and scope.
How?
Aside from adding more concerts to last year's offerings, the first performance at the Wortham Theater Center centers around Bach's Goldberg Variations, the work that brought international acclaim to Canadian pianist Glenn Gould due to his ability to distinctly articulate Bach's interweaving polyphonic textures — he also dismissed romantic repertoire.
Originally composed in 1741, Canadian conductor Bernard Labadie (from Quebec’s Les Violons du Roy) has re-orchestrated the work for string orchestra showcasing the vast character range of each of the 30 variations' rhythms and dance allusions. Titled "Encyclopedia Bach-tanica," this is a musical character study as much as a lesson on Bach the composer and Bach the person.
In Mercury Baroque's spirit of rediscovering obscure or not-as-popular repertoire — last year's Vivaldi's Montezuma performance brought to musical life a work lost since 1733 — Handel's Rodelinda is considered by scholars as one of his greatest operas serias (as opposed to buffa or comic style). Yet, it's often sidestepped in favor of Xerxes.
The first performance of Rodelinda at the Met did not occur until 2004. It was restaged again in 2006 with Patrick Summers at the podium and superstar countertenor Andreas Scholl. Mercury Baroque's concert version is meant to highlight the psychological proclivities of the characters, which includes a king who fakes his own death in an attempt to restore his throne, his wife and his son. Politics, love and exile, the themes are not far off from today's international climate.
The Holiday season isn't complete without a Messiah sing-along and Mercury Baroque does not disappoint. No experience is necessary but anyone would benefit from a little practice. It's never too early or too late to start. And for the purists that just want to hear it performed professionally, the complete Dublin version will also be offered.
No one ever forgets their first Farewell Symphony. As the piece by Haydn comes to its muted conclusion, musicians start leaving the stage one by one, ending with just two. Though I may have just spoiled the surprise, wave hello to Mozart as this concert, “Farewell” Haydn, Hello Mozart, ends with his Sinfonia Concertante, featuring the virtuosic fingers of concertmaster Jonathan Godfrey and the rich playing of violist Suzanne LeFevre.
French is synonymous with sensual romance, or maybe its just the accent (try talking to Mercury Baroque artistic director Antoine Plante). A French Valentine showcases how love is depicted in the music of Jean-Philippe Rameau through his cantatas Orphée and Les Amants Trahis. Sounds like a sure way to impress your date (or hook up) and get some.
Baroque violin badass Monica Huggett graces the Mercury Baroque stage for the first time in The Virtuoso Violin to kick 18th century compositions' butt, including works by Leclair, Locatelli, Van Wassanaer and Vivaldi.
Bordering on the end of the classical era, the ensemble's season concludes with Heroic Beethoven, a Beethoven Symphony cycle. The Eroica Symphony, not to be confused with the Eroica Trio, was initially dedicated to Napoleon. But as Beethoven's tempers flared after Napoleon declared himself Emperor of the French, Beethoven scratched the inscription. The work is Beethoven at his classical best.
The Marcia funebre, in the relative minor key, is tragically beautiful with languid oboe solos, while the theme and variations structure of the last movement is joyous, inventive and playful, with a really awesome flute solo. Beethoven's Second Symphony is also on the program.
