Mostly Mozart Festival: A disappointing start

By Bachtrack reviewer, 03 August 2012

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Reviewed at Lincoln Center: Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, New York City on 1 August 2012

Mozart, La clemenza di Tito, K621: Overture

Mozart, Piano Concerto no. 20 in D minor, K466

Mozart, Recitative and Aria for Tenor, "Misero! O sogno!", K431 (K425b)

Mozart, Così fan tutte, K588: Un' aura amorosa

Mozart, Symphony no. 38 in D major, "Prague”, K504

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra

Louis Langrée, Conductor

Nelson Freire, Piano

Lawrence Brownlee, Tenor

David Wolfson, 8th August

Langrée's incoherent but enjoyable program skips through five centuries of music history from Lully to Valerie Coleman.

***11

Edward Sava-Segal, 4th August

Jessie Montgomery's 2016 Records from a Vanishing City enthralls, Barber’s Violin Concerto is exquisite; Schumann's Rhenish disappoints.

***11

David Wolfson, 1st August

Gemma New makes a positive impressive in the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra's lively rendition of the “Prague” Symphony.

****1

David Wolfson, 25th July

The world premiere of Iraqi-American composer Amir ElSaffar's ambitious Dhikra (Remembrance) very nearly succeeds in its ambitions.

****1

David Wolfson, 5th August

Amid an uncertain future for the Mostly Mozart Festival, conductor Louis Langrée led a fiery program that overflowed with rage rather than grief.

****1

Linda Holt, 30th July

Romanticized but highly enjoyable Mozart performances, monumental Brahms, but more gusto than tenderness characterized the program.

****1