Music Concert Review

Music Concert Review

Orchestra: Houston Symphony, Hans Graf Conducting

http://www.houstonsymphony.org/media/MozartsJupiterSymphonyProgramNotes.pdf

Stravinsky -- Symphonies of Wind Instruments -- This is a concert work written in 1920 for a brass and woodwind ensemble. It is a short piece, one movement, and lasts about 10 minutes. It is dedicated to the memory of Claude Debussy, although uses a number of Russian folk themes. One can tell it is separated into three parts -- three different tempi, three slightly different styles.

Mozart -- Symphony #41 in C Major, K.551 (Jupiter) -- No one knows if the Jupiter Symphony was performed while Mozart was still alive, but it was composed as the last set of three during the summer of 1788. The nickname was not penned by Mozart, but by an impresario of the time in an early arrangement for piano. It is a traditional classical symphony; four movements, but is a bit more robust and complex than his earlier works.

Harbison -- Fanfare for Foley's -- John Harbison is an American composer with a few controversial issues in his past. The Princeton University faculty booed his M.A. performance piece and Walter Piston, famous teacher and composer, told the young Harbison that he should not even think of being a composer (Anthony, 2001). The Fanfare is similar to Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, and was commissioned specifically for the Houston Symphony to honor an historic Houston monument, Foley's Department Store.

Poulenc -- Gloria- This work, a setting of the Roman Catholic Gloria in excelsis Deo was commissioned in 1961 to honor the conductor Sergei Koussevitzky of the Boston Symphony (and others). It is scored for large orchestra, chorus, and a significant soprano role in six parts. It is a grand piece, chromatic yet tonal, but still edgy and ethereal (Gutman, 2001).

Reviews- Stravinsky -- This piece is bright, with tons of coloration but, characteristic of Stravinsky, it is the unexpected rhythms and the pieces of tonal melody woven into the overall fabric of the piece that keeps the short piece exciting. It one listens carefully, you can hear the folk tunes traded off between the instruments but, just short of a classical cadence, go off into a completely different direction.

Mozart -- Knowing this is a mature Mozart, and the fact that the orchestra is larger and more robust than it would have been in Mozart's day; one can still feel the power and the majesty of a composer at the height of his creative genius. This was particularly true with the masterful oboe and bassoon dialog and the grand finale -- more than hinting with classical harmony of the structure and order of the Viennese universe.

Harbison -- Another short and enjoyable piece, masterfully done featuring the HSO's brass section. This is brass playing of the highest degree -- perfect pitch, blended coloration, interesting harmonic structures, and, after the Mozart finale, one is forced to think, "how far we've come in combining harmony and structure." I am not quite sure this is evocative of a Houston landmark, but it is evocative of the power of music to celebrate and rejoice.