MUSIC REVIEW : Mozart Festival Ends on a Triumphant Note

When the English historian Charles Burney visited Europe in the mid-18th Century, he gave Johann Stamitz’s Mannheim orchestra the highest compliment he could muster. He called it “an army of generals,” an encomium that could well describe David Atherton’s Mainly Mozart Festival orchestra, which gave its final program Saturday night at the Spreckels Theatre. Assembled from orchestras and music faculties across the country, this chamber orchestra--some 30 players at its acme--consistently played Mozart with a cleanly honed, athletic vitality. And while this is hardly the only way to approach Mozart, Atherton’s conviction and his players’ precision are not easily dismissed.

Mozart’s lofty “Linz” Symphony No. 36, which Atherton chose as his valedictory to the 1992 season, summed up the orchestra’s character: a highly responsive, cohesive ensemble that painted Mozart in vivid primary colors. Under Atherton’s authoritative baton, the symphony’s architecture unfolded with majestic clarity. Notable was his probing, finely detailed interpretation of the expansive poco adagio movement. He maintained its somber dignity without drifting into ponderous lethargy.

Balancing the “Linz” Symphony on this all-Mozart program was the Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major, K. 595, with Andre-Michel Schub as soloist. Schub is clearly a pianist’s pianist. He demonstrated immaculate technique, a consistently beautiful sonority, gracefully shaped phrase endings and a reverential respect for the primacy of the score. It may seem churlish also to expect a sense of spontaneity and freedom, but even the cadenzas reeked of total calculation. Listening to Schub play this concerto was not unlike sitting in a decorator’s showroom with plastic covers over every object and artifact. Stunning, yes--but inviting, no.

David Jolley did the solo honors in the First Horn Concerto in D Major, K. 412, a concerto of significantly smaller scope that the B-flat Major Piano Concerto. Jolley, who warmed to his task slowly, gave a cautious, well-tailored account of the concerto. Although he avoided the customary pitfalls of the temperamental horn--his notes were clean and well-focused--his relentlessly uniform phrasing dulled a work that Atherton and the orchestra were doing their best to make quite jolly.

Two lighter Mozart offerings opened the program, the Contradance “Der Sieg von Helden Coburg,” K. 587, and the Overture to the opera “Il Re Pastore,” K. 208. Each contributed to the convivial atmosphere which Atherton has endeavored to imbue his annual festival.