Tom Ben Ishai (Uri Elkayam) |
Yaron Rosenthal (jamd.ac.il) |
Concert No.3 of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra's 33rd season marked a new and decidedly exciting shift for the ensemble. Introducing "Viennese Classics", JBO founder and artistic director Prof. David Shemer informed the sizable audience gathered at the Jerusalem International YMCA on January 9th 2022 that the Mozart/Beethoven program would be performed on instruments typical to the Classical period - authentic woodwinds and brass, with string players using Classical bows. Indeed, the keyboard instrument for the evening would be a fortepiano. Conducting the concert was David Shemer, with soloists Yaron Rosenthal-fortepiano and soprano Tom Ben Ishai.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed
the Divertimento in D major K. 136 for strings in Salzburg in the winter of
1772. Busy working on "Lucio Silla", a new, ambitious opera to
be premiered in Milan, writing the Divertimento, K. 136 must have served as a
means of releasing surplus energy for the 16-year-old composer. From the very
first sounds of the vibrant opening Allegro, the JBO string players' genial,
velvety timbres and minimal use of vibrato transported the listener into the
ambience of a musical soirée taking place in
the drawing room of one of Salzburg's leading residents, venues at which
Mozart frequently performed on both keyboard and violin. The Baroque Orchestra's precise,
unmannered playing allowed for the work's shape, charm, its effervescence and
subtle surprises to surface, the warm, elegant Andante movement followed by the
spirited Presto finale, bringing the Divertimento, a fine example of an ambitious work in a genre traditionally designated as "light" music,
to a close.
Concerts in Mozart’s day always
included a vocal element. His concert arias were occasional works to be
inserted into his own operas, those of other composers, or simply composed for
singers who possessed voices he particularly admired. In the latter case, they
were tailored to the range, ability, tonal- and dramatic qualities of those
singers. The concert arias are small, dramatic set pieces which, almost
invariably, borrow their words from full-length opera libretti. Taking its text from
"Ezio", "Misera! dove son…Ah! non son io" K.369 (Ah! It is
not I who speak) was composed in 1871 for Countess Josepha von Paumgarten, a
19-year-old amateur singer. Young Israeli-born opera singer Tom Ben Ishai
issued in the recitative with restraint, its course becoming
somewhat more agitated as it. progressed. In the aria proper, offering brief
ornamental flourishes and dynamic changes, Ben Ishai's beauty of tone coloured
sustained notes as she engaged easefully in its wide intervals and dramatic
leaps, portraying the character’s frenzied mental state. And how lush the
instrumental canvas sounded, scored for two violins, two violas, basso, two
flutes and two horns.
Another concert
aria "Ch'io mi scordi di te? Non temer, amato bene" K.505
(Should I forget you? Fear nothing, my beloved) is unconventional in that it was
written for the combination of solo voice, piano obbligato and
orchestra. Mozart composed it in 1786 for English soprano Nancy Storace, who
had sung the role of Susanna at the premiere of "The Marriage of
Figaro''. He created the complementary piano part, a farewell to Storace,
for the concert aria which he and Storace performed together in early 1787,
shortly before her departure from Vienna. A work bearing a clearly strong
personal element, the piece - a unique sort of duo concertante, the only
one of its type in Mozart’s oeuvre - is the melding of an opera aria and
piano concerto. (In Mozart's own thematic catalogue, it is labelled "Für
M'selle Storace und mich," which might indicate a sympathy between them
that went beyond art! ) Lush in its instrumental scoring for 2 clarinets, 2
bassoons, 2 horns, and strings, with solo piano, the ambience is one of warmth
and tenderness, well reflected in Ben Ishai's musical and well-shaped rendering
of the piece, music indeed sympathetic, with plenty of give and take between
singer and fortepiano (Yaron Rosenthal). The sound of the handsome fortepiano (Chris Maene,
Ruiselede, Belgium), not built for the likes of the large concert hall, however,
emerged as well-defined, its mellifluous timbre
intimate and beguiling, adding its unique colours to the orchestral web. Mozart
never saw Nancy again; yet he regularly wrote her letters, which regrettably
have been lost.
And, to an
auspicious occurrence in the history of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra - the
ensemble's first performance of a work of Ludwig van Beethoven and one to
challenge the concepts long ingrained in the minds of concert-goers. Listening
to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 in C major Op.15 at this concert, the
listener was obliged to put aside the pompous sound world of the large symphony
orchestra and the modern Steinway grand. We meet the 29-year-old Beethoven
juxtaposing the inherited styles of his predecessors and Classical models with
his own musical ideas, forms and taste, a Beethoven not yet beset by the crisis
that would be brought about by his gradual loss of hearing. Maestro Shemer
offers us the opportunity to embrace the leaner proportions of the historic
Classical chamber orchestra, with the JBO instrumentalists' lightness and
transparency setting off the robust but mellow brass instruments and silvery
sounds of the fortepiano. In fact, once the ear had adjusted, the wealth of
details emerging from orchestra and keyboard was rewarding, to say the least, with orchestra and soloist sustaining a balance that was precise and unfaltering. Rosenthal was
clearly on home territory, with playing that was delicate, richly coloured,
hearty, agile and tastefully flexed. It was all enjoyment on his part and ours and an elevating experience to hear the work in the more
personal proportions with which the composer would have been familiar. Totally magical!
Prof. Yaron
Rosenthal is a leading Israeli pianist, combining an international career as a
soloist and chamber musician. He is the pianist of the acclaimed Jerusalem Trio
and a senior faculty member at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. A
graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and the Israeli Opera's
Meitar Studio, Tom Ben has won several awards. Launching a solo career, she is also a member
of the Cecilia Ensemble and the Israeli Vocal Ensemble
ReplyDeleteDear Pamela.
As usual so enjoyable to read to read you comment ofthe "Viennese Classics" concert.
Yes it was a very enjoyable concert.
I loved the programme' playing and singing.
But most of all I just love reading to comment as usual.
Much love
Tsipi