Jacob Blickenstaff
Guest soloist Orion Weiss played a flawless version of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21.
The late, great John Barker, who reviewed classical music for Isthmus for decades prior to his recent death, once wrote that he’d “crawl through snowdrifts on all fours” to hear a performance of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. The rafts of empty seats at WCO’s Jan. 24 kickoff to its 60th anniversary concert season, no doubt due to the evening’s dire forecast, indicate that not everyone shares his willingness to brave the weather.
And that’s too bad, since the evening’s playlist featured a world premiere, complete with the composer in attendance; an electrifying piano performance of a Mozart favorite; and the bright, sunny sounds of a popular Mendelssohn symphony. From a musical perspective, this evening had it all.
The premiere is the most noteworthy. British composer/conductor Donald Fraser penned his four-movement “Sinfonietta for string orchestra” in 2018 and, while it already had been recorded, it has never been performed before an audience. Fraser was walking the grounds of his alma mater, London’s Royal College of Music, when he says he deeply felt the influence of the school’s history and its many famous alumni.
The resulting 20-minute work covered a range of emotions, boasting lovely tonalities that capitalized on the orchestra’s accomplished and cohesive string section. Enthusiastic applause, then an ovation greeted the performance and subsequent appearance of Fraser, whom maestro Andrew Sewell neglected to introduce. (He probably knew we’d deduce the distinguished looking elderly gentleman’s identity.)
Fraser’s work was followed by a lively performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467, best known by the second andante movement, which served as the lovely, lyrical theme to the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan. It has since become one of Mozart’s most popular works.
Guest soloist and pianist Orion Weiss tackled the 29-minute three-movement concerto with spark, energy and finesse. His ferocious concentration spilled over into his performance style, including inaudibly singing with the notes he was playing. His performance of the andante was flawless in both its beauty and simplicity. He rode the rest of the composition at a full gallop, with WCO keeping pace at every step.
After the evening’s second standing ovation, Weiss charmed the audience further with an encore of Brahms’ Romance in F Major, Opus 118, No. 5. The composition’s lovely tones and subtle nuances were as peaceful as the Mozart composition was bright and fearless — again played with note-perfect execution.
A lingering illness sent this critic home at intermission, so we missed Mendelssohn’s “Italian” symphony, drawn from the composer’s youthful sojourns. WCO’s mastery of the symphonic form often enables the orchestra to wow the audience with its own closing performance. On a dark and stormy January night, Mendelssohn’s musical sunshine could well have made this one of those performances.
