Contributed by:
Karen Groves/YourHub.com
Article Contributed on: 7/13/2009 7:28:57 AM
The Arvada Center amphitheater was the perfect venue for an evening of Mozart July 11 as performed by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
And, it didn't rain.
It might have been a different situation during their previous performance July 10, when they performed the overture to The Marriage of Figaro and a violin and viola concerto as well as the symphony No. 40 in G minor, K 550.
Conductor Douglas Boyd only alluded to the weather, congratulating the members of the audience who returned for a second night of Mozart.
The familiar overture to the Magic Flute was a reliable choice. Bil Jackson's clarinet performance was flawless. He performed the concerto in A minor, K. 622.
According to Boyd, the clarinet concerto was written for one of Mozart's drinking buddies.
"I can imagine them downing some Austrian ale," Boyd said.
He called the adagio movement gorgeous, and it was. Slow and sad. Jackson's mastery of his instrument and passion for the music was obvious as he swooned almost on bended knees. A tribute to the range of the instrument, Mozart employed it as if to say, "See what I can do."
Boyd said the Jupiter Symphony was written in the summer of 1788, after Mozart had lost a daughter.
"It might have been an outpouring of necessity," said Boyd.
He said he didn't know if it was even performed in Mozart's lifetime, but was written in June and finished by the end of July.
Sadly for all of us, Mozart died three years after composing the symphony.
"He had no idea he was near the end of his life and thought he had the best of years ahead of him," Boyd said.
As the music moved with a summer breeze, there were only minor interruptions: the jubilance of bird song, as if in approval of the glorious outdoor performance.