Mozart Holds Summer Audience Captive

Connoisseur Concerts “Mozart on a Summer’s Eve,” Tuesday, July 18, at Manito Park

Another perfect summer’s evening for Mozart has passed. The glorious twilight atmosphere in Duncan Gardens compensated for a hot day. And some wonderful wind music, along with a casual repast, didn’t hurt the feeling of bien etre either.

I was not by any means alone in my musical picnicking. I was in attendance at the first of two sold-out “Mozart on a Summer’s Eve” performances presented by Connoisseur Concerts, Tuesday and Wednesday in Manito Park.

The event is certainly a social gathering, but as always was centered around the music. During the pre-concert dinner hour and the long intermission, people flitted from table to blanket talking of cabbages and kings. But a hush fell when the music started, and nearly all remained riveted by it.

Nothing special, this music. Just a couple of sweet songs and a few old things Mozart and some others tossed off as a diversion for such an audience. And there we were, enthralled - enthralled in part because it was all well-played and unamplified, and in part because it was written specifically for anyone enjoying the same atmosphere during the past 200 years.

The wind ensemble performed without a conductor, which served to connect the individual musicians better with the audience (and, as is often the case, with each other). At eight to 10 independent parts, the ensemble was about as large as is manageable without a leader up front, and suffered the occasional roughness at tempo changes because of it. But these small indiscretions were far outweighed by the freedom and obvious joy of music-making when good players are on their own.

The centerpiece serenades from the traditional outdoor repertoire were Gounod’s “Petite Symphonie” and Mozart’s Serenade in C minor, K. 388. The Gounod, light music in a classic framework, came off as more playful and perky than Mozart’s serious counterpart. Both offered sublime phrase-shaping possibilities for the musicians, all of whom met the circumstances ably when their turn came.

Soprano Susan Windham’s introductions to her songs should be collected and published for posterity. By the time she finished her short and humorous explanations of the lyrics, those moldy titles in German and French relinquished their aloofness, and instantly the songs were made to sound as if they were written to accompany the latest sitcom or neighborhood gossip.

Windham’s voice was big enough to carry well to the corners of the yard without losing any richness. The two French numbers, Hahn’s “l’Heure exquise” and Liszt’s “O’ Quand je dors” were perfect for her and the setting. Horn player Roger Logan arranged the accompaniment to work well for woodwind quintet.

The real treat of the evening was the opportunity to hear some new music following in the outdoorsy tradition of the old masters. “Consort I” by Robert Spittal, an associate professor of music at Gonzaga University, was quite a success with the audience.

Spittal’s piece made a few nods to Renaissance dance music in melody, rhythm, instrumentation and structure. On the other hand, hearing any moment of the music, it was obvious that it was written very recently. Parallel chord motions hinted at the Burgundian courts of 600 years ago, but sounded like pure third-millennium stuff.

“Consort I” was playful, with real games being played in the first movement, “Jeux,” and some strong and interesting chord shifts in the third, “Sautereau.” The middle movement, “Aubade,” was a tender melody written in a gorgeous chorale style. Was that a 15th-century cadence hidden in 21st-century musical language? Who cares - it was just beautiful music for a beautiful evening.