Last night in Davies Symphony Hall, Manfred Honeck returned to the podium of the San Francisco Symphony, where he had made his debut in May of 2017. The second half of the program was devoted to a somewhat augmented approach to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 626 Requiem, described in the program book as “presented in the context of a funeral liturgy.” The “augmentation” included other Mozart compositions along with Gregorian chant and readings of texts delivered by Adrian Roberts.
Mozart’s autograph of the K. 618 motet (from the Wikimedia Commons Web page, public domain)
All the chant performances took place off-stage, sung by the members of St. Dominic’s Schola Cantorum under the directorship of Simon Berry. Of far greater significance was the full force of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus directed by Jenny Wong. They were joined by four vocal soloists: Ying Fang (soprano), Sasha Cooke (mezzo), David Portillo (tenor), and Stephano Park (bass). Nevertheless, it was the choral work that consistently rose above both soloists and instrumentalists to seize listener attention. In that context the high point of the entire evening came with the a cappella delivery of the K. 618 motet “Ave verum corpus.”
I suspect that I was not the only one to come away with the feeling that this performances as “all over the map.” Nevertheless, I was impressed by Honeck’s strong command of a wide dynamic range. Indeed, I found the “what’s next” context of dynamic levels to be the primary factor in my own attentive listening. Still, I hope that my next encounter K. 626 will be free of interjections!
The first half of the program accounted for two other First Viennese School composers, one on “either side” of Mozart. The program began with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 62 concert overture “Coriolan.” This introduced me to Honeck’s command of dynamics that continued to impress me throughout the program. The music was familiar, but it was definitely a sit-up-and-take-notice experience.
The same could be said of Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken I/93 symphony in D major. Once again, dynamic range ruled over the entire performance. However, this was another Haydn “surprise” symphony, with the interruption of what can only be called a “bassoon fart” in the second movement! Honeck seemed to enjoy leading this symphony, and I could certainly see why!
