Cologne Chamber Orchestra: Revelation of Mozart works

By Gus Kairupan

JAKARTA (JP): Things, or thoughts, do occur in a flash. Like when you're listening to a Mozart composition during a concert given by the Cologne Chamber Orchestra.

Suddenly you realize why Mozart got in an almighty squabble with the archbishop of Salzburg. Here, on one hand, was Mozart, a country boy with all the earthiness associated with "being from the country." Not that he was of peasant stock, but he was from outside Vienna, the capital of what used to be the Holy Roman Empire. On the other hand there was his boss, the archbishop of Salzburg, enthroned in his palace and surrounded by every luxury anyone could wish for. Princes of the church knew how to live in those days.

Anyway, what the archbishop wanted of Mozart was elegant music for his soirees, dinner parties and other similar, worldly shindigs. And of course, masses, motets and cantatas for spiritual purposes.

Mozart, unfortunately dependent on the archbishop for his livelihood, chafed at the constraints on his musical expression and quarreled with his boss.

Mozart was the darling of the European courts when he was barely out of diapers, but did the rarefied atmosphere in palaces suit him? Empress Maria Theresia did dandle him on her knee, so maybe it did up to a point. But to be constantly surrounded by powdered wigs and crinolines would have been stifling, and later, Vienna, perhaps the most rarefied city in all of Europe, wasn't exactly kind to the adult Mozart. Especially compared to the city of Prague where delivery boys whistled Voi che sapete (from The Marriage of Figaro) or Un' aura amorosa (from Cosi fan Tutte) while doing the rounds.

The trouble is that the flesh and blood aspects of the spirited, robust and vivid Mozart don't often emerge. Orchestras in Indonesia, as far as they are capable, have their visions firmly fixed on the elegant and sugary elements rather than the strength and boldness.

It was the strength and boldness that the Cologne Chamber Orchestra projected at their concert last Wednesday. This superb group took part in the on-going 3rd Jakarta International Festival of the Performing Arts, and presented a program of classical period pieces, including compositions by Johann Christian Bach, Saverio Mercadante and Mozart. Of the three, Mercadante (1795-1870) was the youngest. Although he lived well into the 19th century, his works do not seem to divert much from the form and style of the late classical period, if the flute concerto played marvelously by Vukan Milin is anything to go by. Not often heard, certainly not in Indonesia, Mercadante was hailed as the "Italian Beethoven."

Equally unknown here is Johann Sebastian Bach's youngest son, Johann Christian, represented in the program by the overture to La Clemenza di Scipio. It is this Bach who helped consolidate the classical style. Mozart certainly did not hide his admiration for Johann Christian under a bushel and pays tribute to him in his piano concerto in E-Flat Major K-271. It opens with a figuration (1st movement) that comes straight from Bach's overture.

The highlight of the program was Mozart's sole concerto for oboe and his short symphony in A-Major. Kudos must certainly go to Christian Hommel, the oboist whose lung capacity is unbelievable. There is a thing called "breath-recycling" but the breathing technique Hommel displayed as he sailed from the scale like figure in the first movement right into an endless phrase while effortlessly maintaining legato was no less than, well, breathtaking.

"Can I have a look at your lungs?" I asked him after the concert. "Don't bother," Hommel answered, puffing away at a cigarette, "they're black."

Maturity

But the crowning moment was provided by the final number, Mozart's Symphony in A-Major K-201. It is a typical classical composition consisting of four movements; two outer movements in fast tempo embracing a slow movement and a minuet. The work is short, much shorter than Mozart's later symphonies, and was composed when he was about 17 years old. But age matters little in this case, because the structure reveals a maturity far beyond mere chronological age. It could well be the most concise of all his compositions on a symphonic scale, nevertheless its message is crystal clear and of a rarely matched completeness.

It was this symphony that displayed Mozart in all his boldness and muscularity. Of course one cannot say that the Cologne Chamber Orchestra played "real" Mozart, because no one knows what the "real" Mozart was like. Don't be surprised, however, that after having heard their performance you might find the host of other interpretations of Mozart's compositions quite unacceptable.