New Mexico Philharmonic celebrates genius of Mozart
The New Mexico Philharmonic will celebrate some Mozart classics as well as some lesser-known gems at Albuquerque Academy next weekend.
It will open with the overture to “The Impresario,” the composer’s comic opera about the vanity of singers who argue over status and pay.
The all-Mozart program follows a similar concert in September comprised solely of the music of Bach.
“Mozart, of course, is the most universal composer,” music director Roberto
Minczuk said. “Everybody loves Mozart, more so than even Bach.”
Yoonshin Song, concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3. Mozart penned the work in 1775 when he was just 19.
“She’s a very wellrecognized soloist from South Korea and starting to get a wonderful career going,” Minczuk said.
The musicians will unearth Mozart’s Symphony No. 1, written in 1764 in Chelsea when he was 8 years old. At the time, he was already known as a European wunderkind, but had written little music. His sister wrote that their father Leopold was ill with an infection, and had forbidden them to use a keyboard. Mozart began composing to kill the time. He had amassed 40 symphonies within two decades.
“It’s very simple, very beautiful,” Minczuk said. “It’s in three movements.”
The concert will close with the fire of Symphony No. 35 in D Major, the “Haffner,” commissioned by the Salzburg family of the same name.
“It’s a brilliant work,” Minczuk said. “It’s a short symphony in 17 minutes in four movements. It’s one of the most complete orchestrations. It’s a very upbeat symphony and very virtuosic.”