Allegro Season Finale Filled With Relaxing Compositions

Allegro Tuesday, March 17, The Met

Allegro’s season finale was a sophisticated way to spend some down time. The background music which the privileged used to relax to was presented to regular citizens, and the effect was much the same.

I overheard comments like “magical” and “didn’t want it to end” on the way out of The Met. While “magical” could apply to almost anything Mozart wrote, “challenging” would not apply to these divertimenti.

The program encompassed four divertimenti by close contemporaries Mozart, Michael Haydn and Boccherini, all written as incidental music for one event or another. This is the kind of music I think of when people say, “Oh, I just love relaxing to classical music,” because that was the purpose of these compositions.

This music was intended as musical wallpaper, with enough invention to keep the interest if conversation wasn’t compelling, but not enough in the pathos department to cause any indigestion. The performance of all four works was in keeping with that tradition: relaxed, smooth and well-balanced.

Haydn’s interesting combination of instruments was enough to keep attention riveted for a while. The double bass does not appear in many classical trios, and both the weight and humor it lent to the proceedings were novel. Eugene Jablonsky’s handling of the behemoth was unusually accurate, sensitive and musical.

And as long as the virtues of downtrodden instruments are being extolled, why not spend a moment elevating the lowly viola? While it seems that it should share the spotlight with its sibling, the violin, it comes out with the frequency of locusts, and is about as welcome. But in the hands of Karen Walthinsen, during the Haydn, the viola took its moments of glory as gracefully as its more popular brethren.

The string trio performing the Boccherini was also worthy of note. Violinists Brian Haight and Tana Bachman, along with cellist Cheryl Carney, wrung from the music passions as deep as anything offered on the program. The devilish technique which fellow string player Boccherini worked into the score was executed with aplomb.

The big Mozart Divertimento, K. 251, which comprised the entire second half of the program, was a warm whoosh of sound. Other than a few imprecisions at the beginnings of phrases, there was nothing from the stage to jar one from a pleasant reverie.

While David Dutton’s oboe and Haight’s violin capably hoarded Mozart’s melodies for most of the seven movements, the sound of the large ensemble with horns was well-worth moving all those chairs and stands. Probably the gutsiest playing of the evening came with Bachman’s second violin variation in the Minuet.

There were a couple of outbreaks from an infant in the audience, which made me wonder if it is not time again for a respectful admonition from a frequent concert-goer. There are plenty of other places to entertain babies and introduce them to the wonders of music.

So as not to engender outrage from the defenders of the innocents, I will equally apply the ruling that anyone, regardless of age, incapable of controlling his own behavior so far as it disturbs the enjoyment of other patrons should be kept from the concert hall.