Monday, March 06, 2000
'Mozart Affect' effective
BY NICOLE HAMILTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
There are no priceless chandeliers in Greave Concert Hall at Northern Kentucky University. Still, Saturday night's performance by the Northern Kentucky Symphony (NKS) was worthy of a billing in any great venue.
“There is no pretense here,” NKS music director and conductor James R. Cassidy declared to the audience.
Saturday night's all-Mozart repertoire “The Mozart Affect” was played to a nearly sold-out crowd that included families with young children.
Mr. Cassidy said the program was designed as a survey of Mozart's music, giving the listener a chance to experience Mozart's diverse musical abilities. The program also included stellar guest performers, from world-renowned pianist Sandra Rivers to vocalists Kelly Anderson and Erin Windle.
The music performance began with The Village Musicians: A Musical Joke, K.522.
The last of Mozart's divertimento's, it is his humorous interpretation of the popular compositions of his day and the villagers who played them.
Musicians are encouraged to play out-of-tune and the composition is packed with cliched melodies, obnoxious violin runs and drippy serenades.
The second and fourth movements, the Menuetto and Presto, were played wonderfully, uh, out-of tune. The group never went overboard. Always, a semblance of form re mained.
The audience applauded between movements and laughed heartily.
It was pianist Ms. Rivers' performance of Concerto No. 20 for Piano and Orchestra, K. 466 that was the highlight of the night.
Ms. Rivers, who has partnered with some of the world's leading soloists and plays regularly with violinist Nadja-Salerno-Sonnenberg delivered a passionate interpretation of the music. She moved fluidly throughout each movement, her phrasing simple and her dynamics powerful. The second movement, Romanza, was elegant and calm.
Mr. Cassidy's conducting was effective for excerpts from Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute. With a cello section equal in size to the first violin section, Mr. Cassidy maintained balance. The lower register instruments played long quarter-note passages without becoming bottom heavy.
Both bass-baritone Ms. Anderson and soprano Miss Windle gave stellar, if not amusing, performances.
Mozart's Symphony No. 36, K. 425, named Linz after the town for which it was written, is Mozart mature. The second movement, Poco adagio,was a beautifully textured interpretation and the Presto, with its culminating dynamics was a fitting end to the night's remarkable, if not laid back, performance.
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