Then the Akademie’s artistic director, Kent Nagano, in a tunic still showing its suitcase wrinkles, walked on to conduct a larger work, the premiere of Masques and Divertissements by a young German composer, Alexander Muno. The result was less satisfying. Considering that one of the works scheduled for the concert (by Tobias Schneid, one of Muno’s teachers) had been canceled, excerpts from the new piece could have been performed.
Instead, Nagano’s introduction was in words only, adding little to the program notes, rather than helping out unfamiliar ears with some sounds from the brand-new offering. In line with the concert theme of divertissement, however, the artistic director’s address did provide diversion, entertaining patrons with a story about his elementary-school teacher and how she could startle students into submission with a snap of her fingers.
Veil Fails
Masques added flute, clarinet, and horn to the ensemble. Muno’s piece was soundly constructed, using progressive instrument entrances as demarcations in its six otherwise unbroken sections. Nagano drew attention in his remarks to the “veiled” nature of a horn motive that opens the piece and returns later, which the composer called “the genesis of a melody coming from afar.” Unfortunately, the veil was so thick that I apprehended not a note of the tune — would a foghorn have helped?
Illustration by Jeff Dunn
Despite a fair amount of variety in Masques, not much stuck in the memory. Which brings up my overexperienced-concertgoer’s plaint: When will they ever have idiosyncratic, “right-sized” concerts that repeat the best portions of new works, and excise out the less-engaging parts of the old standards? I’d like to give Muno another try some day.
An old standard finished off the concert after intermission: Brahms’ Serenade No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11, played one instrument to 18 parts, trumpets omitted. Here the larger size of the ensemble began to be troublesome, as instruments at the rear of the stage set up untoward echoes that muffled the music’s clarity. Yet, on the other hand, the smaller number of strings weakened the strength and smoothness of their signal contribution to the music, most noticeably in the second subject of the first movement.
A third size issue lay with Brahms the composer. Despite so much beautiful music, the proportions of the suite are unsuitable: two movements worthy of a symphony (the first and third) were deadweights to the four others. I wouldn’t change a note of the opening Allegro. Writers have complained about its first theme having been derived from the finale of Haydn’s 104th Symphony. But Brahms transfigured any Haydnesque elements by his use of Romantic effusions, such as the sudden change to the minor key in the first theme, and the second theme’s heartfelt yearning. It’s the third movement that I have trouble with. Unlike early works of Brahms (the first piano concerto, for example), the melodic quality just doesn’t sustain its length.
The Akademie ensemble did a fair job with the Brahms. The stalwart (if unsupported) strings were faultless (unlike the horn section), and the woodwinds contributed many excellences. For the most part, Nagano’s conducting served the music well; my only concerns arose in the first movement’s development section, where a couple of eccentric ritardandos seemed to break the flow. In the delightful pair of fourth-movement minuets, the woodwinds, strings, and conductor conquered all size and acoustic issues, and left the most lasting impression of the evening, along with the Mozart.