Review: Anthony Marwood does it all in an evening of Haydn and Beethoven

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Antony Marwood

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It's a tribute to the professionalism of our St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians that they can play like a single organism even when there's not somebody waving a stick at them.

[Find out more about the music with my symphony preview.]

Yes, that's right: there was no conductor on the podium for the concert Friday night (March 15, 2019) of works by Beethoven and Haydn. Indeed, there was no podium at all. That's because violin soloist Anthony Marwood also filled the roles of conductor/leader ("leader" is concertmaster to us Yanks). When not actively playing his violin, he led the orchestra with a mix of eye contact and body language that kept everything moving along smoothly, even during the demanding Beethoven Violin Concerto that took up the second half of the program.

Talk about being the hardest working man in show business!

Historically speaking, of course, it wasn't all that unusual for the conductor to also be a member of the ensemble--most commonly the keyboard player. Handel, for example, got his first big break as an opera composer ("Almira," which he wrote in 1705 at age 19) in part because he had the very visible job of harpsichordist/conductor at a theater in Hamburg. Still, it's rare these days.

It's also rare to see most of the orchestra (everybody but the cellists, whose instruments mandate a chair, and the bassoonists) performing standing rather than seated. I don't know whether or not that was common practice in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when the works on this weekend's program were written, but it did seem to allow for a degree of physical involvement with the music that wouldn't be quite so easy to come by had everyone been seated. All that exposed wood on stage also seemed to produce a bigger and brighter sound than I would have expected, given that Mr. Marwood was working with a smaller orchestra (a little over 30 musicians; very appropriate for the period).

Standing room only on stage

The concert opened with a light and charming Beethoven miniature, his "Romance No. 2." Written when the composer was in his late 20s, it's sweetly melodic with occasional glimpses of the drama that would characterize Beethoven's later work. It got an elegant and varied performance from Mr. Marwood and the orchestra.

Up next was Haydn's Symphony No. 44 in E minor, published in 1772. It's known as the "Treuer" ("mourning") symphony mostly because of the contemplative tone of the Adagio third movement, although the dark and driven feel of the other three movements seems to fit with the nickname as well. It's one of several symphonies Haydn wrote that were inspired by the Sturm und Drang ("storm and stress") movement in 18th century German literature and music that emphasized drama and conflict.

Conductor Kenneth Woods once called this symphony "a work conceived in fire and bathed in blood." I don't know about the blood, but there was certainly fire and dramatic power in Mr. Marwood's interpretation, especially in the contrast between his serenely contemplative third movement and powerful urgency of his fourth. There was some excellent playing from the band here as well, including some particularly lovely work in the second movement by Thomas Jöstlein and Chris Dwyer on horns.

The Beethoven concerto took up the second half of the concert and here, again, Mr. Marwood proved as capable a conductor as he was a soloist. I would have liked a bit more drama in the first movement, but his playing was impeccable, including an impressive, flashy cadenza of his own devising, based on one Sarasota Music Festival director Robert Levin prepared for (I think) the Henle Urtext edition of the concerto.

The second movement was wonderfully warm and heartfelt, with a nice solo by Principal Clarinet Scott Andrews, and the Rondo finale tripped along happily with strong dynamic contrasts, another striking Levin-inspired cadenza, and an irresistible sense of momentum that had Mr. Marwood almost to dancing in spots. My minor misgivings about the first movement not withstanding, this was a performance that had real visceral power overall.

Friday night's concert will be repeated Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, March 16 and 17, at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. Next weekend, Gilbert Varga conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, along with cellist Daniel Müller-Schott. The program consists of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Dukas, Lalo's Cello Concerto, and the Franck Symphony in D minor. Performances are Friday at 10:30 am and Saturday at 8 pm, March 22 and 23.

Triple threat

Photo: Sussie Ahlburg

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Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anthony Marwood
What: Music of Mozart
Where: Powell Symphony Hall
When: October 11-13, 2013

Violinist Anthony Marwood just might have been the hardest-working man in (classical) show business in a series of all-Mozart concerts this weekend as he took on the roles of conductor, soloist, and (except in the Violin Concerto No. 3) concertmaster.

For most of us in the audience, it was probably the closest we’ll ever get to experience what an orchestral concert was like back in Mozart's day, when the conductor was not necessarily separate from the band.

It's a tribute to the professionalism of both Mr. Marwood and the symphony musicians that they sounded just as polished as they do when there's a separate conductor on the podium. Yes, there was a wince-inducing horn flub in the Symphony No. 1, but that’s the live concert experience for you. Mr. Marwood led with his eyes and body—his hands being mostly occupied with his 1736 Bergonzi violin—and the musicians appeared to be following him with cheerful ease. There were lots of smiles up there, especially among the strings.

Unconventionally, Mr. Marwood had most of the musicians standing rather than seated. I'm not sure whether that was common practice in Mozart's day or not, but it does seem to allow for a degree of physical involvement with the music that isn't quite so easy to come by when everyone is seated.

The range of pieces chosen nicely illustrated the breadth of Mozart's genius, from the charming (if trifling) Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, K. 16 (composed at the age of 8, when even Mozart gets a free pass on "trifling") to the masterful Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385 ("Haffner") from thirteen years later.

The former, in particular, benefitted from some nice dynamic shading in the outer movements and an overall approach that made the most of its frankly limited material. I’m not sure this piece would ever see the light of day if it didn’t have Mozart’s name attached to it, but it’s still fascinating to see what a firm grasp of his craft the composer had at such a young age.

As for Mr. Marwood’s “Haffner,” I’ll just confess that I was so engrossed by it that I completely failed to take any notes. This was a reading that did full justice to symphony’s many moods, from the dramatic first movement with its energetic, leaping main theme, to the genial second and third and the racing finale. To me, that last movement has always sounded a bit like one of Mozart’s comic opera overtures (it was, after all, written shortly after the premiere of his “Abduction from the Seraglio”), and I thought this performance brought that element out nicely.

Sandwiched between the two symphonies were the 2nd and 3rd violin concertos. They’re appealing works that serve to remind us that Mozart was a decent fiddler as well as a virtuoso pianist. The 3rd, in particular, is a real banquet of musical invention, with an ethereally beautiful second movement and unflaggingly jolly third.

Mr. Marwood played both the first violin and solo parts in the Concerto No. 2 in D major, K. 211. Highlights of his performance included an impressive first movement cadenza and a wonderfully delicate second movement. Mr. Marwood stuck with the soloist and conductor roles for the more substantial Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 261, once again with completely satisfying results, including a particularly heartfelt “Adagio” and lively, foot-stomping finale.

There was some notable playing by oboists Phil Ross and Michelle Duskey in the third concerto as well as from Mark Sparks and Jennifer Nichtman on flutes although, as usual, everyone was in fine form.

For more information about the music, check out my Symphony Notes blog post at OnStl.com and Paul Schiavo's informative program notes at the St. Louis Symphony web site.

Next on the regular calendar: Finland’s Hannu Lintu is on the podium with violinist Simone Lamsma for a dance-oriented program of Bartók‘s Dance Suite, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Performances are Friday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, October 18 and 20. Saturday, October 19, is the annual “Red Velvet Ball” fundraiser with David Robertson and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. For ticket information: stlsymphony.org.

All Mozart, all the time

Anthony Marwood

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This weekend at Powell Hall (October 11-13) it's an all-Mozart program.  You might think an evening of music by one of the most frequently performed composers in Western history couldn't possibly have any surprises.  You'd be wrong.

Let's start with the fact that this weekend's concerts open with a relative rarity: the Symphony No. 1 in E-flat, K. 16.  Mozart was all of eight years old when he wrote it in 1764, during the England segment of a "Grand Tour" of Europe promoting young Wolfgang's skill as a piano prodigy.  Papa Leopold took ill, forcing the family to temporarily relocate from London to Chelsea and idling Wolfgang.  Other kids might have played games; Wolfgang wrote his first symphony.  It's pretty derivative stuff—he was just getting started, after all—but, as Paul Schiavo points out in his program notes, "it forecasts his mature style to a remarkable degree. The work’s initial phrase presents a strong unison statement followed at once by a more lyrical one, thus establishing two poles of expression in its very first moments. This would remain a favorite Mozartean device".

Up next are two Mozart violin concertos: No. 2 in D major, K. 211 and No. 3 in G major, K. 216—and another surprise.  The soloist, British violinist Anthony Marwood,  is also the conductor (as he is for the entire evening).  That's not as unusual as you might think.  Until relatively recently in Western musical history it wasn't at all unusual for the conductor to also be an instrumentalist—most commonly the keyboard player.  Handel, for example, got his first big break as an opera composer (Almira, which he wrote in 1705 at age 19) in part because he had the very visible job of harpsichordist/conductor at a theater in Hamburg.

Still, it's rare for a major modern orchestra to be conducted this way.  “I’m looking forward to Anthony Marwood playing and conducting," says first violinist Helen Kim in the program notes. "Performing this way tends to open up your ears. We get used to a certain dynamic with conductors, but when there’s not somebody with a baton the whole time you have to be very alert aurally to much more subtle cues. It usually results in a more cohesive string sound. There’s more interaction between sections. You’ll see more eyes looking around, the musicians tracking each other.”

www.talkclassical.com

The concertos themselves are lovely little things and a reminder that while Mozart was primarily a keyboard man he was, as as Mr. Schiavo writes, "a precociously accomplished violinist."  "We hear most about his playing during his travels in 1777-8," writes Paul Walls in the February 1992 issue of Early Music. "In Munich he took part in a private concert given to celebrate the name-day of his music-loving inkeeper."  Describing the reaction to his performance of his Divertimento in B-flat, K. 287 at that concert in a letter to his father, the composer wrote: "The all opened their eyes!  I played as though I were the finest fiddler in Europe."

The concerts conclude with Mozart's Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385.  It's known as the "Haffner" because it represents a re-working of a serenade he had written the previous year to fulfill a commission from Sigmund Haffner, head of a prominent Salzburg family and a childhood friend of Mozart.  It was an instant hit at its March 23, 1783 premiere in Vienna, most notably with the Austrian Emperor Josef II.  He actually stayed for the entire concert (unusual for him) and even coughed up 25 ducats to show his support.  It's a dramatic and energetic piece with a commanding first movement, graceful second and third, and a lively finale which (as Mr. Schiavo notes) Mozart wanted played "as fast as possible."

The all-Mozart concerts are Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM at Powell Hall.  For ticket information: stlsymphony.org.  The Saturday concert will be broadcast on St. Louis Public Radio 90.7 FM and HD 1 as well as via the station Internet stream (which usually has the best sound) at the web site and via the St. Louis Public Radio mobile app.

Odd man out

Anthony Marwood

Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
What: Robertson conducts Vaughan-Williams, Stephen Mackey, and Tchaikovsky
Where: Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis
When: February 25 – 27, 2011

On my old Hoffnung Music Festival LP there’s a piece by Franz Reizenstein entitled Concerto Popolare (a Piano Concerto to end all Piano Concertos) in which the soloist and the orchestra duke it out over the course of nearly twelve hilarious minutes. Stephen Mackey’s Beautiful Passing, which closed the first part of this weekend’s St. Louis Symphony program, also involves a pitched battle between soloist and orchestra –a violin in this case – but the resemblance ends there. Reizenstein went for and got laughs; Mackey goes for emotional weight but, to my ears, just gets flash – and takes three times as long to do it.

Consisting of two contrasting sections bridged by a stunningly (and perhaps unnecessarily) difficult cadenza, Beautiful Passage, according to its composer, “has to do with the violin gaining control of its own destiny, competing with, commanding, and ultimately letting go of the orchestra”. Practically speaking, this means that the work begins with lyrical material on the violin being echoed sarcastically or simply ignored by a cacophonous orchestra. It passes through a wildly flashy cadenza and concludes with soloist and ensemble moving more or less together towards a serene finale.

It makes structural sense, but I found it surprisingly unengaging and ultimately not terribly interesting. I say “surprisingly” because, given that the piece was inspired by the death of the composer’s mother, I would have expected to be truly moved. I had a similar response to Mr. Mackey’s Turn the Key last October, so perhaps I’m simply not in tune with his muse, but it seems to me that his compositional toolbox doesn’t have much in it beyond repetition.

All that said, violinist Anthony Marwood turned in a spectacular performance Friday morning. Beautiful Passage is chockablock with fiendishly difficult music for the soloist, including a section in the cadenza that has him effectively playing a duet with himself by rapidly alternating between the instrument’s lowest and highest register – with harmonics thrown in for good measure. It’s bravura stuff, and Mr. Marwood executed it brilliantly. David Robertson drew virtuoso performances from the orchestra as well.

For the true lover of orchestral strings, however, the gem on this weekend’s program was Vaughan Williams’s 1910 Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. This lush, rhapsodic meditation a on a 16th century psalm tune conjures up images of the lofty, echoing cathedrals of a bygone age, transforming the modest and mysterious original into an ecstatic celebration of sheer sound. Under Mr. Robertson’s intense direction, the symphony strings were ravishing and the first-chair players in the solo quartet were spot on.

It has always seemed to me that the Fantasia, employing two string ensembles and a solo string quartet, can only be fully appreciated in a live performance. You can distinguish them sonically in a recording, but to truly understand Vaughan Williams’s ingenious reworking of the multiple chorus techniques of the Renaissance (with their reliance on spatial separation), you need to be able to see the interaction among the three groups. Mr. Robertson’s placement of the smaller second orchestra behind and slightly above the main ensemble worked perfectly.

The concert concluded with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pathetique”) – one of those works which has become so familiar precisely because it is so beautifully written. Tchaikovsky himself regarded it as one of his finest achievements and audiences over the last century or so have clearly agreed. The symphony’s compelling mix of triumph and tragedy is, as the song goes, “simply irresistible”. Only a world-class grouch, for example, could refuse to applaud after the exuberant third movement (which we all did, with Mr. Robertson’s approval) and only a heart of granite could fail to be moved by the despairing finale. Mr. Robertson paused for just a few moments after those final, dying chords in the low strings before turning to the audience for a well-deserved ovation – a good, theatrically apt decision. We all need a moment to exhale at that point.

This concert will be repeated Saturday, March 25, at 8 PM and Sunday, March 27, at 2 PM. For more information on this and other concerts, you may call 314-534-1700 or visit the St. Louis Symphony web site at stlsymphony.org. You can also follow the Symphony on Twitter: @slso.