Just in time for Valentine’s Day, but better.
“Mozart and the Romantics” is the title of the next concert pair for the San Juan Symphony the weekend of Feb. 21 and 22.
It sounds like a stretch, but not for Music Director Thomas Heuser.
“How do we make a work that’s more than 200 years old seem fresh and relevant?” he said.
If you go
WHAT: “Mozart and the Romantics,” The San Juan Symphony, Thomas Heuser, conductor, works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, Alexander Glazunov and Samuel Barber
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21, Durango; 3 p.m. Feb. 22, Farmington
WHERE: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Durango, and Henderson Performing Arts Center, Farmington
TICKETS: Tickets: $24-$69.
SPECIAL EVENTS: “Musically Speaking,” informal, free pre-concert talks. 6 p.m. Wednesday, The Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio, Durango. Pre-concert 30-minute talks in Durango and Farmington concert venues one hour before downbeat.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.sanjuansymphony.org or 382-9753; visit www.durangoconcerts.com or call 247-7657
Relevance is just what Heuser and company are all about. In the process of celebrating its 40th season, the orchestra is in the midst of a multiyear project exploring Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final three symphonies. What to pair with such great works is a creative conundrum.
“There will be so much nuance to explore, both in Mozart’s 40th Symphony but also in the Romantic composers who saw Mozart as a direct inspiration, most notably Mendelssohn and Schubert,” Heuser said. “By combining Mozart’s iconic 40th Symphony with a beautiful selection of other works from the Romantic era, his impact on the arc of music history can be appreciated in new ways. Everyone hears something different in a piece with this level of complexity and depth.
“I want to make the case that composers, too, were inspired by Mozart’s musical language,” he said. “He gives us characters and scenes, packed with emotion and contrast, which inspired future composers to explore the heartfelt side of Romanticism while remaining tonally grounded.”
To accomplish those goals, Heuser programmed later works inspired by the genius of the Classical era: Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, Alexander Glazunov and the 20th century American composer Samuel Barber.
“Barber’s ‘Adagio for Strings' has a lasting place in popular culture,” Heuser said. “Audiences really respond to its combination of melancholy and intimacy. And, make no mistake, there will be some folks attending just to hear the ‘Adagio,’ one of history’s most sublime and emotional works.”
Heuser’s program notes illuminate more about Barber’s “Adagio” as well as all other concert works. Mendelssohn’s intermezzo from “A Midsummer Night’’ Dream” prompted Heuser to suggest that one particularly dramatic melody “seems to resemble Mozart’s brooding 40th Symphony.” Or, he points out, a “quintessential Romantic melody: sweet at the outset, subjected to variation that deepens the emotional mood” in Mendelssohn’s “Nocturne.”
About Schubert’s underscore for the 1823 Viennese opening of the play “Rosamonde,” Heuser writes: “The charming Entr’acte No. 3 has been recognized as one of Schubert’s musical gems. We are dipped into a pool of beautiful harmonies, and the simple melodic idea grows and deepens with every repetition and shift.”
For the Mozart-Glazunov connection, Heuser writes: “The Serenade in F major provides an example of Mozartian eloquence and simplicity that requires a very small orchestra.”
These are snippets from his excellent program notes. Yes, take the time to read them.
And, if you ever wished you took a class in music appreciation, his informal pre-concert talks are a chance to catch up. Heuser is one of today’s most engaging conductor-educators in the American tradition of Leonard Bernstein.
At 6 p.m. Wednesday in Durango’s Powerhouse Science Center, Heuser delivers a free one-hour summary of the upcoming concert with musical excerpts. Music lovers mingle before and after the informal talk as snacks and a cash bar are offered. A shorter version can be heard one hour before the concerts in Durango and Farmington. Go to one or both.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
