Carmel Bach Festival: Viennese Matinée Concertante

“… to make divine things human and human things divine; such is Bach, the greatest and purest moment in music of all time.” ~ Pablo Casals

The 73rd season of the Carmel Bach Festival began its final day this morning with a brief concert of the music of Haydn and Mozart. The annual two-week festival features music of Bach and his musical legacy. The July 14th concert featured renowned cellist Raphael Wallfisch performing the complete cycle of the six Suites for solo cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. The suite is remarkable achievement, and a benchmark in writing for the cello. In addition to music of Bach, the Festival featured music of Monteverdi, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, some contemporary works, films, and other events.

This morning’s concert began with the Symphony No. 8, Le Soir, by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), a work in four movements. (Most of Haydn’s symphonies have acquired various nicknames, some appropriate, over the years.) Haydn, one of the sunniest of the great composers, creates a delightful mood, and the ensemble playing and virtuosity of the musicians were exquisite.

The second piece on the hour-long program was Ein musikalischer Spass (A Musical Joke), K. 522 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Mozart was a known jokester (the sign of great intelligence!); those of us who are more dilettantes than musical geniuses, got the more obvious of the musical jokes.

Mozart was born just six years after Bach died, and some believe that he was the incarnation, or at least the musical incarnation, of J.S. Bach. Mozart thoroughly incorporated Bach’s lessons, and was fully capable of writing a great fugue when it was called for.

The final piece on the program was Mozart’s Rondo In D Major for Horn, K. 514, for five violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute, two oboes, bassoon and two French horns. It was written for the shopkeeper and horn player Johann Leutgeb, the butt of Mozart’s mischievous humor. David Gordon provided Mozart’s sarcastic narration, which is generally left out of performances and recordings of the piece, which lent a delightful finale to an hour of light-hearted music.