Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra – light, sweet and refreshing

By Alan Yu, 08 August 2011

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Reviewed at Lincoln Center: Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, New York City on 5 August 2011

Bach, Orchestral Suite no. 4 in D major, BWV1069

Bruch, Violin Concerto no. 1 in G minor, Op.26

Mozart, Symphony no. 40 in G minor, K550

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra

Pablo Heras-Casado, Conductor

Joshua Bell, Violin

Louis Langrée begins final week with Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra

David Wolfson, 8th August

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

***11

Contrasting halves from Mostly Mozart Orchestra and Heyward

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

In New York, Gemma New makes “Mostly Mozart” mostly magic

David Wolfson, 1st August

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

****1

Langrée pairs ambitious premiere with uneven Mass at Mostly Mozart

David Wolfson, 25th July

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

****1

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra offers a Requiem for itself

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

Mozart and Brahms shine in a bold, romantic glow

Linda Holt, 30th July

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

****1

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Alan Yu

The first concert Alan attended was Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. For 7 years he presented classical music programmes for Radio Television Hong Kong, partly to pay his way through university. He attends concerts whenever he can and believes there is no substitute for the thrill of live performances. He writes here.