GREENSBORO – The Vermont Philharmonic came to the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro last Saturday afternoon and featured two masterpieces of classical music in their program: Mozart’s “41st Symphony” and Holst’s “The Planets.”
Of all the arts, music seems to have reached levels of perfection most frequently, with beautiful melodies, rich harmonies, imaginative orchestration drawing on all the potentialities of the different instruments (including the human voice), intriguing rhythms, genuine emotion and drama, which then combine into a unified creation resonating in the deepest levels of our minds.
Many of Mozart’s late works, from sonatas to string quartets, concertos, symphonies, and operas certainly fit this description. But also lesser-known composers as Holst in “The Planets,” Elgar in “The Enigma Variations,” Glazunov in “The Seasons” and Kodály in his “Peacock Variations”, wrote memorable works where every element seems exactly right.
Wolfgang Amadeaus Mozart (1756 – 1791) finished his “Symphonie No. 41 in C Major, K.551”, later named “The Jupiter,” in the summer of 1788, and sadly it was his last contribution in that genre. It begins with an Allegro vivace movement in which he played with two delightful themes in a medium tempo, carried musically by all the strings but supported by the added textures of the woodwinds, brass and kettledrums. Conductor Lou Kosma’s sensitive direction brought out the subtleties of the score very skillfully. The Andante cantabile that followed was slower and true to its indications (cantabile means singing) for in much of Mozart’s music one often hears the human voice in the instrumentation. It had a particularly exquisite melody, though the second theme was somewhat darker in mood. The third section, a Menvetto Allegretto Trio, was another fine tune that soared upward with a stately dance rhythm, thoroughly engaging. The Finale: Molto allegro, built to a triumphant climax in which the power of the whole orchestra was involved, bringing in five intertwining themes in a monumental fugue worthy of Bach. Mozart was undoubtedly having fun pulling this one off.
The English composer Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934) wrote “The Planets, Op. 32” starting in 1914 and finishing in 1917, in the midst of the slaughter of World War I. For this piece, the Vermont Philharmonic increased its size from the 18th century scale orchestra for the Mozart symphony to some 73 musicians, adding many additional players to the brass and woodwind sections as well as more percussion, keyboards and a harp, in order to give the full volume of sound to the piece. The first of the seven planets that he wrote, just months before the break of World War I, in August of 1914, was for “Mars, The Bringer of War.” Right from the first bars it had an appropriate military marching rhythm with an insistent loud beat that was totally dominant, reinforced by outbursts from the woodwinds and brass. This initial maelstrom built to a dramatic finish that clearly embodied death.
In complete juxtaposition the next planet was “Venus, The Bringer of Peace.” Starting with a French horn then joined by flutes, horns and cello, the calm celestial melody took on another world of overwhelming beauty and love. Kosma conducted the orchestra at just the right tempo to express as much feeling as possible. “Mercury, the Winged Messenger,” had different skipping rhythms at a faster speed that evoked a sense of flying, a much lighter ambience, sharing the elegant theme among all the instruments of the orchestra. “Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity,” brought forth the full strength of a wall of sound worthy of the subject, with an upbeat theme and bold rhythm. Then in the middle of this section, Holst introduced a glorious melody that is quintessentially English, which some have found inconsistent with the rest of the work, but being so outstandingly memorable could be forgiven as entirely suitable for the highest god in the Greek and Roman pantheon.
“Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age” started off very slowly and quietly, with a muted rhythm which then metamorphosized into a louder and more ponderous beat, with fine first and second melodies having a number of lovely moments as it built to an apotheosis and wound down to the end. “Uranus, The Magician,” began with a crash of brasses and kettle drums, a jumpy rhythm, accelerating to include all the instruments in masterful scoring. It is supposed to suggest the arc of human life from birth to youth and mortality.
The final planet to be given a musical description was the furthest away, “Neptune, The Mystic.” Here Holst reached truly transcendental realms, with carefully paced momentum that takes us beyond the Earth to the infinite shelters of the universe. It was particularly powerful with the addition of a woman’s chorus off stage, singing without words in an ethereal manner combined with the floating quality of the orchestra, creating a memorable ending to this work. The audience responded with a heartfelt standing ovation for this marvelous performance by the Vermont Philharmonic and its inspiring conductor, Lou Kosma.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
