Sunday, January 25, 2015

Happy Happy Birthday Mozart


Is it a cadenza when two instruments, in this case flute and harp as we heard last night at the Philharmonic, play unaccompanied? Those were the highlights of the Mozart concerto for flute and harp, those duo passages in each movement. Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis’s  music stand was pulled up close to her hands muffling the instrument so from where we sat in row D, seats we’ve held down for decades, the balance with flutist Demarre McGill was somewhat off. Even so, it was a bravura performance.

It was all Mozart all the time. The concerto was preceded by the air ball String Divertimenti and followed by the soaring Prague Symphony, No. 38, the best part of the evening. The orchestra, always excellent, seemed particularly inspired. Was it guest conductor David Allen Miller? Or was it Mozart whose music always seems when played live to draw out the best an orchestra has to offer? Whatever, the audience was on its feet at the end, a very well deserved ovation for a brilliant performance.

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