An expanded Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, led by music director Nathalie Stutzmann, performs Lorin Maazel's 75-minute compilation of hit music from Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen." (credit: Rand Lines)

Stutzmann and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra deliver a bold rendition of Maazel’s Wagnerian tribute: “The Ring Without Words”

CONCERT REVIEW:
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
June 6 & 8, 2024
Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center
Atlanta, Georgia – USA

Nathalie Stutzmann, conductor; Elizabeth Koch Tiscione, oboe; Jesse McCandless, clarinet; Ryan Little, horn; Anthony Georgeson, bassoon.
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante in E♭ major, K. 297b
Richard WAGNER/arr. Maazel: The Ring Without Words

Mark Gresham | 10 JUN 2024

Saturday night’s concert by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra was the final performance of a program that featured two scores modified from their originals in some manner: one suspected of not being authentic, the other a deliberate tribute. ASO music director Nathalie Stutzmann led the orchestra in this penultimate classical program of the season, featuring four ASO principals in an up-front concertino role in the opening work.

The Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds in E♭ major, K. 297b, is a piece for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and orchestra attributed to Mozart but of doubtful authenticity. What we do know is that in April 1778, Mozart wrote a Sinfonia Concertante for flute, oboe, horn, bassoon, and orchestra intended for performance in Paris, but it was never played and subsequently lost.

What is known today as the Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds surfaced in 1869 from the collection of Otto Jahn, who wrote the first scholarly biography of Mozart. The manuscript is not in Mozart’s hand, differs in instrumentation from the one described in Mozart’s letters, and contains compositional errors. The current instrumentation includes a concertino of solo oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, with an orchestra of two horns, two oboes, and strings. Its three movements (an “Allegro” in sonata form, an “Adagio” with thematic exchanges, and an “Andante con variazioni” comprised of a theme with ten variations and a coda) have a total duration of about a half hour.


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There is significant debate about the work’s authenticity, with some scholars arguing that it was not by Mozart. While early acceptance was uncritical, later analyses, such as those by Donald Tovey and Stanley Sadie, highlighted flaws. Robert Levin suggested that the solo parts might be based on Mozart’s originals but modified by another hand. Some speculate that orchestral part may not even be by Mozart at all.

Nevertheless, this Sinfonia Concertante remains popular and is regularly programmed today, although the ASO has not performed it since 1988.

The four ASO principals (oboist Elizabeth Koch Tiscione, clarinetist Jesse McCandless, hornist Ryan Little, and bassoonist Anthony Georgeson) were delightful in their part — demonstrating, once again for this listener, a particular joy that comes with featuring members of the home team as soloists.

However, the orchestral part under Stutrzmann’s hand felt more than a bit dull and overbearing, lacking Mozartean sparkle. Even if it is not actually by Mozart, it is far better to approach the piece as if it were.

With music director Nathalie Stutzmann on the podium, four ASO principals—Elizabeth Koch Tiscione, oboe, Jesse McCandless, clarinet, Ryan Little, horn, and Anthony Georgeson, bassoon—were the featured soloists in Mozart's “Sinfonia Concertante in E♭ Major.” (credit: Rand Lines)

With music director Nathalie Stutzmann on the podium, four ASO principals—Elizabeth Koch Tiscione, oboe, Jesse McCandless, clarinet, Ryan Little, horn, and Anthony Georgeson, bassoon—were the featured soloists in Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante in E♭ Major.” (credit: Rand Lines)

Lorin Maazel’s 1987 compilation The Ring Without Words came after intermission. It is what one might call a Reader’s Digest Condensed Version of Richard Wagner’s epic 16-hour tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen (“The Ring of the Nibelung”). At about 70 to 75 minutes long, it is an essentially seamless symphonic synthesis of the Ring Cycle’s “greatest hits” that emphasizes the orchestra’s role in The Ring. Designed to introduce the grandeur of Wagner’s work to new listeners, The Ring Without Words successfully highlights the most prominent scenes and themes without adding any new material.

The Ring Without Words seems the sort of repertoire that Stutzmann really digs into. As almost entirely a series of “peaks,” the score allows her to wallow in the kind of self-indulgent bombast to which she appears magnetically drawn. Naturally, Stutzmann brought enormous energy (and volume) to it, and everything clicked in that respect—the sheer visceral element. The brass were brilliant, as were the woodwinds. But it was too long paired with the Mozart. Even so, the applause was thunderous and Stutzmann enabled each section to bathe in the glow of the audience’s adulation.


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These were the first performances of The Ring Without Words by the ASO, which was greatly augmented in size for the occasion. Stutzmann returned to a seating arrangement with the basses on the left, the cellos next to the first violins, and the harps (four of them in this case) moved over to the right from the audience’s perspective. As in several previous instances, this configuration sounded strong and well-anchored with rich bass. One wonders whether we will eventually see her adopt it as the standard seating arrangement.

Maazel did an excellent job of quilting the musical extracts together without adding superfluous transitions. Pauses between them are rare, lasting only long enough to allow them to breathe, not create a hard break. But, again, it remains a series of almost nothing but “best of” peaks stitched back to back, though essentially in dramatic order. In that respect, the score does not pose Stutzmann the same architectural challenges of shaping the overarching music as does a Beethoven, Brahms, or Mahler symphony (or even more so Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, which comes up next season).

Interestingly, The Ring Without Words has enjoyed a recent spate of performances beginning in 2023 and in early 2024 in France, Germany, and the US, including performances in late October by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Gaffigan and early November by the Diego Symphony Orchestra with conductor Rafael Payare in early November then again in February of this year, and three early January performances by the National Symphony Orchestra with Gianandrea Noseda at the helm.

It is worth mentioning that these Thursday and Saturday ASO performances of The Ring Without Words foreshadow three concerts by the New York Philharmonic (January 16, 18 & 19, 2025), in which Stutzmann is scheduled to conduct it again.

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About the author:
Mark Gresham is publisher and principal writer of EarRelevant. He began writing as a music journalist over 30 years ago, but has been a composer of music much longer than that. He was the winner of an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award for music journalism in 2003.

Read more by Mark Gresham.
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