Probably more than a few attendees of Opening Night at the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) gladly donned tuxedos in place of their Red Sox gamer jackets. Fresh on the heels of the epic collapse of the Olde Towne Team, some of us were more than happy to escape into the musically pleasant world of Mozart’s violin concertos in the hands of none other than Anne-Sophie Mutter.
For the opening night festivities, Mutter and the Mozart-sized BSO treated us to No. 3 and No. 5. Like any violin student, I’ve played No. 3 and count it among my favorites. In my opinion, in only the very rarest of occasions can an artist manage to squeeze something new and profound out of Mozart, so with these concertos, artists in equal measure either seem to maintain the status quo or miss the mark. Mutter was firmly in the former camp, with her articulation and tempo choices complementing the phrasing of her interpretation. She was as bold as her fire-red dress during her first movement cadenzas in both pieces, and it left me wishing they were longer. I was impressed with the tasteful slow movements of both pieces as well, and my impression is that it is on this type of music that she particularly excels.
Previously, I had only listened to recorded Mutter, and I have to admit that they had left no indelible mark on me — if anything, I had emerged with no reason to seek out her work. This was mostly due to interpretive disagreements with relatively straightforward pieces, including the recorded versions of these very violin concertos. This performance has compelled me to revisit those earlier versions to try and understand them better. While there were standard intimations of technical imperfection in the form of missed chords and attack, these did not detract wholly from the performance.
Like the cadenzas, the opening night performance to the public audience was all too short, but I was thankful to be a part of it. Despite a series of missteps, I ended up with the last pair of tickets available through the CollegeCard program and took M to her first ever symphony performance. These Mozart concertos represent a perfect introduction to this wonderful world of western art music, as it is far more palatable than much of the modern repertoire, easily recognizable, and less intense than my beloved Brahms et al. But hopefully they’ll serve as the gateway to the riches of this music, a truly opening night into the world of classical music and particularly the BSO.
