Toronto Symphony Orchestra (performing works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky)

Repertoire Performed

Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622 W.A. Mozart

Allegro (1756-1791)
Adagio
Rondo: Allegro

“Innocent Ear”

Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 13, Winter Daydreams P.I. Tchaikovsky
Allegro tranquillo (1840-1893)
Adagio cantabile ma non tanto
Scherzo: Allegro scherzando giocoso
Finale: Andante lugubre – Allegro maetoso

Review:

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra performed at the Roy Thomson Hall at 7pm on Saturday, January the 19^th. The conductor, Peter Oundjian welcomed us and Joaquin Valdepeñas, the principal clarinetist.

Mozart was born in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. He showed precocious talent at a very young age, and his first symphony was played when he was only eight years old. Clarinet Concerto in A Major K.622 was his last major piece before his premature death in 1791. It was performed in three movements:

Allegro started off with just light strings and soft flutes, cleverly bringing the clarinetist into the forefront. Here, Valdepeñas took advantage of the opportunity by providing a good range of notes played in harmony with the orchestra. One got the feeling that it was played in duple-time; the melody was cheerful and performed at constant dynamics. Overall, the texture was very light with no piercing horns or drums to compromise the independence and character of the solo part.

Adagio provided a very sentimental, moving feel, the clarinet with its agonising, prolonged notes. Valdepeñas displayed rare skill in being able to sustain the notes tenuto for a lengthy period, using a technique very few wind musicians are capable of. It had a very touching, peaceful melody and continuous flowing rhythm with no apparent cadences.

Rondo: Allegro was refreshing, jaunty and screaming “Good Morning!” to the audience. It provided a tuneful melody accompanied with lots of imitation. Whenever the orchestra reached a crescendo, the spotlight was shifted to the clarinetist. It ended fittingly, with the whole orchestra including the clarinetist blending and complimenting each “voice” well.

Innocent Ear was a little test for the audience if we could identify the piece. Few people had problems when the conductor jokingly started off with “Happy Birthday”!

They proceeded to play a jazzy melody at a slowish pace. The cellos were playing pizzicato throughout this performance and were duple-meter most of the time. Once the clarinetist joined in, there was an air of mystery and this continued to build up blending in well with the main melody. Sadly though, I could not identify the piece.

After the brief intermission, the next piece was Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 13, Winter Daydreams. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Vyatka, Russia, May 7, 1840. He was a lifelong admirer of Mozart. Winter Daydreams was the first symphony he wrote, it was completed in its first version in 1866 but was later revised. It was constructed in four movements:

Allegro tranquillo started off with a gentle melody with flutes and bassoons over quiet violin tremolos. One got the feeling it was very dramatic, at times even sounding violent especially when it soared into crescendo and the horns and timpani came into the picture. The music was major and very rich in texture, one astounding revelation was the cool transition from heavy strings in minor, paving the way for a louder, quicker segment played by the horns and timpani in tandem.

Adagio cantabile ma non tanto was a very moving and sombre movement. The main theme was introduced by an oboe with ornate counterpoint from a flute, framed by sober music for the strings alone. Midway it swung into a beautiful waltz rhythm where the melody could be heard more than once. The horns which came in later created tension and set hearts racing.

Scherzo: Allegro scherzando giocoso started off with an accent in 1^st bar in triple-meter. In this movement, the texture was thicker than the previous two. After the very noticeable cadence, it livened up to a dancy tune with mostly the strings and then the woodwinds supporting them. There were also plenty of points of imitation involved when the bassoons carried the melody at a higher note relegating the strings to a backup role. This movement didn’t contain any brass, but the timpani made itself heard with a ten second solo, surrendering itself to the strings and wind instruments.

The finale, Andante lugubre – Allegro maestoso started with a sad but heavy intro, which served as the source from which both main themes of the subsequent Allegro are derived. The build-up was performed beautifully and it gradually became richer quickening the tempo and stronger dynamics. One could also observe numerous points of imitation. The horns played its role to perfection providing the much-needed crescendo at strategised points in the movement. This finale provided a tremendous, very dramatic climax to this piece, almost making it sound victorious.

Summary:

Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto was lighter, more delicate, concentrating more on melody than richness. On the other hand, Tchaikovsky’s provocative piece almost sacrificed melody for polyphony but used his resources skilfully.