Pro Musica ends season with Mozart
Santa Fe Pro Musica will end its 36th season with one of Mozart’s final masterworks at Santa Fe’s Lensic Performing Arts Center this weekend.
The musicians will perform the composer’s Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504, otherwise known as the “Prague,” along with his Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414.
Mozart boasted a devoted following in Prague.
“A lot of his operas were performed there,” conductor David Felberg said. “No one is sure why he wrote” the symphony.
Mozart penned the “Prague” in late 1786 with three movements instead of the usual four, opening with a slow introduction.
“Mozart and Friends” also features works by the similarly creative composers Stravinksy and Missy Mazzoli.
Stravinsky’s early classical Octet for Wind Instruments contains echoes of the earlier composer.
“It’s cast in the style of a divertimento,” a light and entertaining composition, Felberg said.
“This is the kind of piece you might hear that Mozart wrote cast in a completely different harmonic language,” he continued. “It’s a slight rebellion against the romantic movement. It’s just a wealth of invention.”
Mazzoli’s shimmering Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
“She’s becoming a very wellknown composer,” Felberg said. “The wind players are asked to play harmonicas. They really sound like accordions flying in space.”
Israeli pianist Benjamin Hochman will complete the program with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414.
Like all three of the early Vienna concertos, it is a modest work that
can be performed with only string quartet and piano. It was the first of a set of three piano concertos that Mozart performed at his Lenten concerts in 1783.
“He performed these pieces on the piano himself,” Felberg said. “They’re an introduction to his later mature works. They’re really a vehicle for him to gain popularity and favor. They’re filled with inventiveness.”
Hochman won the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2011 and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The New York Times described the pianist as a “gifted, fast-rising artist.”