January 3, 2024
Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
David Coucheron, concertmaster/leader.
W.A. MOZART: Divertimento in D major, K. 125a
Edward ELGAR: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47
Antonio VIVALDI: The Four Seasons
Mark Gresham | 4 JAN 2024
The 2024 calendar year was off to a good start for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with a Wednesday evening special concert centered upon the immense popularity of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons featuring ASO concertmaster David Coucheron as both soloist and leader of the string orchestra of 24 musicians drawn from the larger ASO.
The program was an audience magnet. The concert was beyond sold out, as the ASO made additional space for attendees on the 1,762-seat hall’s portable choral risers set up at the back of the stage, behind the musicians, to accommodate the overflow demand.
It is worth noting that the program will repeat on Saturday afternoon at the acoustically superior 492-seat Spivey Hall in Morrow, Georgia, on Atlanta’s suburban south side. That concert is also completely sold out in advance.
Wednesday’s concert proved itself fully worthy of the amassed gathering’s expectations.
The concert opened with a youthful work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, K. 136 (K. 125a), the first of the three early so-called “Salzburg Symphonies” for strings, playable by either string orchestra or string quartet. These were all written in 1772 when the composer was age 16. Neither structurally a divertimento in the sense of the composer’s later Divertimentos and Serenades with five or more movements nor a Symphony in the manner of his mature numbered works of that genre, these economical “Salzburg” symphonies are most likely influenced by the prevalent three-movement sinfonias and concerto grossi that the young composer encountered while traveling in Italy; in this case a lively “Allegro,” a charming “Andante,” and a brilliant “Presto.” It was a musical gem on a minimal scale.
For this piece, the upper strings all performed standing rather than seated, which has become a common practice among many string orchestras of that size, which lends extra vitality to the performance.
ASO concertmaster David Coucheron leads the orchestra in Mozart’s “Divertimento in D major, K. 136” at Symphony Hall, January 3, 2024. (credit: Rand Lines)
Sir Edward Elgar composed his Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47, in 1905, initially presented at an all-Elgar concert by the newly established London Symphony Orchestra. Written for string quartet and string orchestra in a neo-resurrected Baroque concerto grosso style, Elgar crafted the piece to showcase the players’ virtuosity. Nevertheless, it is a work clearly identifiable as Elgar and with the Edwardian Britishness of his era. With a duration of approximately 12 to 14 minutes, it resembled a multi-layered symphonic poem for strings with distinct themes, weaving a complex polyphonic structure that led to a triumphant coda.
For this work, the musicians were seated, with the concertino quartet of strings — violinists David Coucheron and Sou-Chun Su, violist Zhenwei Shi, and cellist Daniel Laufer — who were front and center in an arc surrounded by the rest of the orchestra. It was a most intriguing closer for the first half and perhaps an unexpectedly enlightening experience for most of the audience who came only to hear Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with no other listening agenda. This performance of Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro was a genuinely rewarding listen.
After intermission came what everyone was waiting for, Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, a set of four violin concertos, each representing a different season, which are renowned as the composer’s most famous works.
A revolutionary musical conception for its time, The Four Seasons” vividly depicts nature’s elements, capturing flowing creeks, singing birds, storms, and more, making them early examples of programmatic music. Vivaldi also integrated narrative elements into the composition by including accompanying sonnets, possibly self-penned, which provide detailed insights into the music’s seasonal inspirations. Vivaldi meticulously aligned the music to the poetic texts, creating a harmonious blend of auditory and literary expression. Each concerto comprises three movements, mirroring the structure of the associated sonnets.
Coucheron was the violin soloist, and he and the conductorless orchestra gave listeners a vital and engaging performance with plenty of showpiece virtuosity, but without depending on sheer velocity. Thus, the dancelike movements and lyrical passages were fluid, and the phrasings, especially recitative-like solo passages, had humanity and breath. The overall sound of the chamber orchestra was good in Symphony Hall, and one can only anticipate with joy what it will sound like in Spivey Hall on Saturday. Of the four, the first movement of “Winter” felt a hair fast for my tastes (I’d personally go for something a little more measured in tempo and “icier” in sonic character). Nonetheless, it was a successfully captivating performance. Coucheron and the orchestra reprised the final movement an encore. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: aso.org
- David Coucheron: davidandjuliecoucheron.com
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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