NCCO’s Uneven Evening of Mozart

NCCO Music Director Daniel Hope with guest violist Paul Neubauer (courtesy of Michael Strickland)

Last night the New Century Chamber Orchestra (NCCO) returned to Herbst Theatre to conclude its 2021–2022 season. The title of the program was Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. In fact, the entire program was devoted to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Three selections were presented in early-middle-late chronological order. The K. 364 sinfonia concertante in E-flat major held the “middle position” with solo work by Music Director Daniel Hope on violin and guest violist Paul Neubauer. The music was flanked on either side by symphonies, beginning with K. 45b in B-flat major and concluding with the K. 550 “warhorse” in G minor.

The NCCO string section provided just the right size, which suited all three selections. Different combinations of winds were required for each of the pieces. These were not period instruments. For the most part, however, they provided the right balance with the strings, although the horns came across as scrappier than one would have wished. The full complement was required for K. 550, and the solo clarinet work by Sarah Bonomo was particularly memorable for its polished expressiveness.

Hope introduced K. 364 by noting that Neubauer would use scordatura tuning for his instrument. His explanation went by like lightning. Fortunately for those that could not keep up with him, that explanation can be found on the Wikipedia Scordatura page:

Mozart wrote the solo viola part for his Sinfonia Concertante a semitone lower, with the viola strings to be tuned a semitone higher to D♭, A♭, E♭, B♭. Thus [sic] part is written in D major (the key of the work is E♭ major). A common practice of the time, changing the pitch of the open strings was primarily intended to make the viola sound louder, and so better discernible in the symphonic orchestra: indeed, increasing the tension in a string, not only sharpens the pitch, but also makes it sound louder, the loudest sound being obtained just before breaking.

Hope observed that, while most violists do not retune their instrument for K. 364, Neubauer decided it would be more suitable. Between the limited ensemble resources and the Herbst acoustic, there was no reason for Neubauer’s viola to be any louder than usual; and, as a result, I am not sure that the change made very much difference. The only other departure from “business as usual” involved Hope playing an over-the-top cadenza by Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. at the conclusion of the first movement; but this was entirely consistent with Mozart’s own tendencies to show off his skills!

Hope and Neubauer also offered an encore, which departed from Mozart. They performed “Idylle,” the Opus 155 bis of Charles Koechlin originally composed for a pair of clarinets. Hope suggested that the music evoked an ideal world, which is certainly a proposition devoutly to be wished in current times; but I suspect that the composer was more interested in a “real world” take on the amorous pastoral qualities of the music.

Where the symphonies were concerned, K. 45b was probably a novelty for much of the audience. Mozart was not yet a teenager when he composed this symphony, but it is often referred to has his seventh. Sadly,. the second violin section was all but inaudible during last night’s performance. Considering all the effort that went into the audibility of the viola in K. 364, it is a bit ironic that the only real audibility issue arose at the very beginning of the program.

At the other end of the program Hope led K. 550 at a brisk pace. Fortunately, the string section came off as better balanced. As a result, even at a rapid tempo, one could still relish the richest diversity of sonorities of the evening in Hope’s interpretation of the score.