Southern Tier Symphony Celebrates Musical Genius
by Ed. Simone
Music Director Ben Grow's back on the podium of the Southern Tier Symphony after
COVID kept him from leading the last concert. It's a wonderful return. An Eighteenth-Centurya-
thon featuring pieces by Mozart, Haydn and Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
The program opens with Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, a 1787 piece that's probably
one of the most played bits of music ever. It's perennially delightful.
But it's the Andante movement from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, with
Laura Peterson as soloist, that pushes us closer to the composer's heart. When I was a lad this
piece was known as the "Elvira Madigan" concerto, because it was featured in a Swedish film of
that name in the late 60's. The film has long since slipped into the celluloid mists; but the piece
remains an engaging example of Mozart's ability to tap into emotion in the most direct way and
the movement is often played as a stand-alone work.
Against the insistent pulsing of the strings and winds, Peterson turns the simple, wistful
melody into a determined stride; a journey to---? Well, Mozart never tells us where; but
Peterson's playing makes us feel it must be somewhere better. It's a gem of a piece, and
it made me wish for the framing movements.
What follows, however, is another sterling performance: two movements from Mozart's
Oboe Concerto, also in C major. The warmth of Paul Schlossman's solo oboe rises above the
delicate string figures and the hunter's calls from Molly Sacheli-Weissman and John Georger's
French horns. Grow keeps things tunesome and reveals a strength that punches through the
Mozartian ornamentation.
Joseph Bologne, the son of an enslaved black woman and a white planter, came to France
as a child from Guadeloupe. He has been called the Black Mozart; but some contemporary
research asserts that Mozart should be labelled the White Bologne. When Mozart first came to
Paris, Bologne, older by eleven years, had already been named a chevalier by King Louis, and
was an extremely popular and prolific composer and conductor, a music teacher to Marie
Antoinette, and a favorite at court. Mozart was indeed treading on Bologne's turf, and the racism
of the time didn't help Bologne's fate in the face of such competition. (Bologne's life is
fascinating and rich with amazing exploits, including leading the first all-black republican
regiment in the French Revolution! A long-awaited biopic about him is set to premiere in April.)
Bologne's first symphony, in G major, premiered in 1779. The STS handled the
Chevalier's elegant, layered string writing with charm. The sweet melody introduced in the very
first bars of the opening movement is vexed by some sturm und drang in the lower strings and
horns; but comes out on top. A graceful middle movement gives way to a rollicking danse de la
pays finale. It was a pleasure to hear music so rarely played yet so deserving of attention.
Joseph Haydn, eldest of the three composers on the program and the composer of over a
hundred symphonies, gets the last word. The sheer breadth and development of Haydn's work
is astonishing. It's a musical education (and a joy) to listen to an early Haydn symphony like the
No.6, Le Matin, and then to a late work like the No.100, The Military. And throughout his long
career he and his music remained very much in-demand. (Haydn's Paris Symphonies were even
commissioned by none other than the Chevalier de Saint-Georges for his Concert de la Loge
Olympique.)
The Southern Tier Symphony wraps up their current concert program with three
movements from Haydn's 44th Symphony in E minor. The strings of the STS navigate the
careening first and fourth movements, with violins chasing violas chasing cellos and basses. It's
a thrill for sure, and an exciting close to a concert that truly celebrates musical genius, past and
present.
