November 7 & 9, 2024
Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Nathalie Stutzmann, conductor; Erika Baikoff, soprano; Julia Lezhneva, soprano; Lunga Eric Hallam, tenor; Harold Wilson, bass-baritone; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus (Norman Mackenzie, director of choruses).
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Symphony No. 40
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Mass in C minor
Mark Gresham | 12 NOV 2024
On Thursday, November 7, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with a quartet of guest vocal soloists, all under the baton of music director Nathalie Stutzmann, presented an all-Mozart program at Atlanta Symphony Hall that included the composer’s Symphony No. 40 and the Great Mass in C minor. The program promised to provide a deep dive into Mozart’s mastery, yet left some elements of balance and interpretation questioned under close scrutiny.
The performance began with Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, a piece well-loved for its dramatic intensity. However, the performance drew mixed reactions. While the overall tempo choices were generally acceptable, the strange tempo variations in the first movement were notably heterodox to Mozart’s signature style, maybe not Romantic (as one listener suggested at intermission), but certainly what some might describe as over-interpretation by the conductor, and certainly not conventionally “Classical” in terms of accepted mainstream performance practice.
Issues with shaping phrases that sounded artificially exaggerated were evident (perhaps prompting the one listener’s suggestion of an unwarranted Romantic approach), in particular phrase endings, where the musical lines seemed to lose their closure, not being well-articulated, and literally disappeared, possibly due to Stutzmann’s odd musical choices or perhaps her conducting style, which seemed disconnected from the actual music.
Stutzmann’s conducting visibly lacked precision, which was evident right from the opening bars, where the violas were not quite in sync. However, they were on the money at the exposition’s repeat, suggesting that the performance quality improved when the musicians could rely more on their own collective cohesiveness as an ensemble. Despite all these issues, the musicians of the ASO are thoroughly professional; they play what the conductor’s gestural techniques ask, even if the musical choices are suspect.
For the program’s second half, the ASO Chorus and a quartet of vocal soloists — sopranos Erika Baikoff and Julia Lezhneva, tenor Lunga Eric Hallam, and bass-baritone Harold Wilson — joined the orchestra onstage for Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, K. 427, which presented a different set of challenges.
This concert was not the first time Stutmann’s placement of the soloists behind the orchestra was a detrimental choice, perhaps aimed at visual synchronization with the conductor. (It did, strangely, look like Stutzmann was trying to conduct their solo singing.) This placement, however, led to balance issues, with the rest of the performing forces overwhelming the soloists, particularly noticeable with soprano Erika Baikoff, who initially struggled to be heard. Julia Lezhneva, on the other hand, managed to project more effectively.
Guest vocal soloists (l-r): bass-baritone Harold Wilson, tenor Lunga Eric Hallam, soprano Julia Lezhneva, and soprano Erika Baikoff. (credit: Rand Lines)
However, all of the soloists were affected by this, making it difficult to give each of them a fair, detailed review, as would have been the case had they been placed downstage in front of the orchestra. Symphony Hall is not a European cathedral or chapel, with very different architecture and acoustics, in which such placement of soloists just in front of the choir (or within it) would be familiar and musically practical.
There was another issue of balance: given the modest size of the complement of strings in this concert, the choir could have been much smaller, say, about 60 voices, rather than the full ASO Chorus. That was particularly evident in the “Hosanna in excelsis” section of the “Sanctus,” where the strings were overwhelmed. In the choral-orchestral works of Mozart (as well as Haydn), the orchestra fully participates in the music. It is not merely an accompaniment to the voices.
In addition to the need for a better balance between the choir and orchestra, there were some issues with the choral sound (and I say this as a long-ago member of this esteemed chorus) — most conspicuously, a lack of focused pitch and sectional unison on high notes in the soprano section, plus a rather bright, “metallic” sound in those moments.
After the number of choral-orchestral works heard so far under Stutzmann’s leadership, it is still unclear to this nearly life-long chorister where she wants to go with their sound. She may not know. Or it may be that she just wants to escape the long shadow of Robert Shaw’s legacy, regardless of where that leads. However, music directors, and others who may be self-avowed “disruptors,” should take care when handling such legacies, both choral and orchestral. Atlantans have a long history of not appreciating “scorched earth” policies directed at our cultural history. (An acronym used on social media applies here, but better not to express or explain in polite company at this time.)
Despite these critiques, much of the audience responded positively, indicating that the performance resonated reasonably well with them, if not with the more critical ears in the seats. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: aso.org
- Nathalie Stutzmann: roderickcox.com
- Erika Baikoff: erikabaikoff.com
- Julia Lezhneva: roderickcox.com
- Lunga Eric Hallam: askonasholt.com/artist/lunga-eric-hallam
- Harold Wilson: haroldwilson.net
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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