Symphony presents a fun, frolicsome spring outing
Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Bologne featured in Masterworks concert
The saints come marching into the latest Hartford Symphony Orchestra Masterworks concert, at The Bushnell’s Belding Theater.
There’s Camille Saint-Saëns, Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges plus Mozart, whom the program notes argue was basically the musical voice of God.
Sounds divine, but this is really an upbeat, down-to-earth, fun and frolicsome show that avoids undue pomp and ceremony. It is a spring outing, not a church service.
Bologne’s second symphony kicks off the evening. It’s pleasant and fresh, trill-filled and stringy, bouncy yet beautiful. At 11 minutes for three movements, it’s also economical, wasting no time in shifting from its fluid, melodic beginning to its punchy plucky percussive ending.
One’s initial reaction to SaintSaens’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor is naturally “How nice of them to play something other than ‘Danse Macabre.”
The composer had great versatility. This piece gets stormy and goes nuts with the horns near the end, but it’s more merry than macabre. It has a dazzling tour-deforce violin solo that’s performed here by Leonid Sigal. He happens to be the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster, but he’s the guy you’d want to get if you were searching far and wide for a guest soloist anyway. If a piece of classical violin music has ever been described with the word “gypsy,” it’s for him.
As he did for Wynton Marsalis’ electrifying “Hootenanny” in 2021 and for Rimsky-Korsakov’s stirring “Scheherezade” last year, Sigal took Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 to its nth degree, sweeping from sustained notes to staccato ones and adding raw emotional squeaks, squawks and scratches to the mix.
The concert concludes with the 35-minute Symphony No. 40 in G Minor by Mozart, and putting it after the Bologne and Saint-Saëns means everything. Mozart was in awe of Bologne.
While their works are very different, you can feel what tastes they share. In turn, in the 40th Symphony, you can hear what Beethoven liked so much about Mozart. Yet, as played this weekend, this is Mozart without bombast or show-offiness. After the two friendly, fun works in the first place, this one has a rare intimacy. It’s easy to pick out the individual players and sense the nuance.
In other circumstances,
Mozart’s 40th can come off as cartoony. Its very familiar opening does surface in Bugs Bunny shorts and TV commercials, and there’s a section with sharp sensational noises that sounds like it could soundtrack a slamming-door comedy scene. Most Mozart can get overwhelming and pushy if it’s not handled well. Here, it’s practically pastoral. It is sublimely sweet. Much is written about this symphony being written in a minor key. Here, what’s interesting is that it’s played in a pleasant mood.
Adam Kerry Boyle, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s assistant conductor (as well as the director of two orchestras in Massachusetts) has a real knack for switching up tempos and keeping things on a fast track while never letting the music get jarring or jumpy. He’s rhythmic as well as sympathetic, watching for the notes that bring everything together and not letting anything important get lost.
The concerts this weekend begin with another potentially sad, moody moment that turns unexpectedly bright. The HSO’s brass section marks the passing of their principal trumpeter Scott McIntosh, who died just last week, with a solemn yet bright and brassy rendition of Dukas’ Fanfare “La Péri.” It’s a touching tribute that will leave a lump in your throat, but it is also a tootling celebration of life and art. There’s an added touch of pathos watching the horn players walk offstage silently after their tribute because most of them are not needed for the strings-centered Bologne symphony. It makes McIntosh’s absence all the more palpable.
Harford Symphony Orchestra’s “Mozart 40” Masterworks concert has a performance Sunday at 2 p.m. in The Bushnell’s Belding Theater, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. $35-$59. hartfordsymphony.org.