Symphony Review: Mozart's Requiem (and Birthday!)

It has been a long time since I've been to the symphony, but I have no good excuse for my absence. I love most of the music they perform, it's easy to get to the Circle Theatre and park, they're amazingly talented, tickets are reasonably priced, etc. The Colts and the Pacers aren't the only pro teams in town—let's not forget (I chastize myself!) that these musicians are highly-trained professionals of exceptional talent, and an asset to our city that deserves our support more often than just at Christmastime. No excuses! Go hear them! Tonight!

Maestro Mario Venzago began the show with a few words about Mozart's birthday and the Requiem, and said he would stop that piece for a moment at the point where Mozart stopped writing. I noticed that we weren't seeing quite the full symphony orchestra on stage; it had been pared down to what I would call a large chamber orchestra for these works, at maybe 70% of its full size. This is my first chance to see Venzago conduct; he seems to be energetic and mobile, with feet apart and knees bent, willing each note out of the orchestra. And he looks a little bit like Bill Gates, IMO. He was rather fun to watch.

Another bonus to your attendance at an ISO concert is the program, which contains wonderful notes by Marianne W. Tobias. She provides a short history of each piece, including information on its context and how it was received when written. I'm glad that she provided the libretto (lyrics) for this concert, including both the original texts and the English translations, because it's interesting to read what they're singing and think about how well the words fit with the tone and nature of the music.

We began with three secular pieces written for opera: first, the overture to The Magic Flute, a playful piece that shows off the entire string section with a fast tempo. I particularly liked the beginning of the second half of this piece, where they move into a minor key for some mysterious-sounding exploration before returning to the main theme with a bang. I've always liked woodwinds, especially the combination of flute and bassoon (each softens the other), and they get a chance to shine here.

The second piece featured mezzo-soprano soloist Susanne Reinhard in the aria "Parto, Parto" from the dramatic opera La Clemenza di Tito. Her full-bodied voice and smooth inflection were perfectly matched to the Italian-language libretto and the clarinet soloist; it was lovely, and a pleasantly melodic piece as well. Soprano soloist Cyndia Sieden was featured in the third piece, the aria "Vorrei spiegarvi". Sieden has incredible range and control, plus an interesting tone—the words were mostly indistinct, but at times her voice sounded like a violin.

But the star of the show was the Requiem. This piece has an interesting history: it was commissioned anonymously, with half paid up front, and Mozart was working on it as he knew he himself was dying. He only wrote about half of it before he died, but his wife Constanze wanted to collect the rest of the commission. She hired two men in succession to finish it, the last of which forged Mozart's signature on the final score. This ISO performance featured the score as further revised by Harvard's Professor Robert Levin, who made some changes to the orchestrations of the other men based on lifelong study of Mozart's styles and techniques.

A quick note about the movie Amadeus: It fabricated much of the events surrounding the Requiem and Mozart's last days. In particular, it showed Salieri as an agent of the work's commissioner and Mozart's assistant while writing the piece; neither of those are true. But I think it's still an excellent movie, and makes great use of the music of the Requiem in those final scenes.

OK, back to the show: the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir filed in behind the orchestra. They're a big group—more than 100 members in the usual four sections (soprano, alto, tenor, bass). Soloists Sieden and Reinhard returned, and were joined by tenor Colin Balzer and bass Peter Rose. Then the low opening notes—basses/cellos, bassoon, clarinet, violin—and the choir begins with the reverent desperation of the first section, "Requiem". Wow, the ISC is good! I love that the fugue sections in this work allow each choir section to be heard distinctly; it's an ideal piece to showcase an oratorio choir like this, with their "et lux perpetua" reaching the heavens.

An odd thing happened. In spite of that power, at first I felt the strong sensation that the choir was very far away physically (they were at the back of the stage), and that this distance translated into a sort of disconnect between them and me aurally. I think it's because I'm accustomed to hearing this music by virtue of well-miked recordings, played on my iPod, where the choir sounds as if it is literally between my ears. Fortunately this sensation didn't last; within a few minutes I felt enveloped in their sound.

There's more decision-making in classical music than you might think. The same score may sound completely different when performed by two separate groups. Going into this work, I had one concern: I wanted the "Dies Irae" section to be scary. "The day of wrath, that day shall dissolve the world in ashes...What trembling shall there be when the judge shall come who shall thresh out all thoroughly!" I was pleased that both choir and orchestra burst into this section with urgency and terror.

Throughout the Requiem, the four choral soloists are featured—sometimes together, sometimes alone. Bass soloist Peter Rose was exceptional, with a deep and well-projected voice that I could practically feel reverberate, and excellent diction. Unfortunately, tenor Colin Balzer didn't match up well with that strong bass, and suffers by comparison where he wouldn't suffer alone. Balzer's voice seemed especially thin next to Rose, although perfectly nice when he was not competing. I wish Rose had performed an aria in the first half of the program, he was really wonderful.

Venzago paused for several seconds in the middle of the "Lacrimosa," after the last of Mozart's writing. That silence was actually a little heart-wrenching, thinking about the beauty that came before and what that pause really meant.

I'm not as fond of the "Sanctus" and "Benedictus" sections, because I feel that the tone of the music doesn't match their lyrics. They're offering glory to God, but sound awfully plain. I think Mozart (who did not write these sections) did a better job of matching libretto to score in terms of tone. These two sections seem to lack the passion and desperation of the other sections; perhaps that's because the men completing this work didn't feel death in the room while they were writing.

The last sections of the Requiem hearken back to the opening movement, with the wonderful "et lux perpetua" and cello/bass lines. The orchestra did far more than just support the choir, in this concert; they expressed musically the emotions you find in the libretto. I'm partial to the more dramatic works of classical music, stuff that goes into the lower registers, and they performed wonderfully in that space.

Applause exploded at the end, but quickly abated as it became clear that Venzago would move directly into the night's final work. As beautiful as the Requiem is alone, its effect was made even more moving by the choice of the piece which followed it. The Ave Verum Corpus is a short sacred work, a simple prayer that requires restraint rather than force. The orchestra led with gentle strings, and the choir faded in with a soft and peaceful tone. Very nice, and a great way to end the program; everyone was completely silent for a few seconds after it ended. I'm heading over to iTunes to pick this one up.

Then we exited into the lobby, and there were cupcakes! I hope these were historically accurate cupcakes, made with a recipe from Mozart's time. (They were vanilla.) Happy birthday, Mozart.

Every once in a while I'll hear someone say "There's nothing to do here," or "There's no real culture in Indy." Don't buy into that. It's here, but sometimes you have to go find it. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is worth the effort.

Ratings: I give both the choir and the orchestra a 4.5 out of 5.0 stars. Very, very good. There was an excellent selection of works for this program, and they worked well together.

Tickets provided courtesy of the ISO.