BSO Hits Flat Note with Mozart Concert

Rounding out its two-week mini Mozart festival, the Boston Symphony Orchestra paid tribute to the Austrian composer and prodigy with a tepid performance of his final three symphonies last Thursday. The night—save for a rousing performance of Mozart’s “Jupiter” symphony—could best be characterized as an uninspired rendition of Mozart’s works.

Led by American-born conductor James Levine, now in his fifth season as music director, the BSO performed the last of its three-program survey of Mozart symphonies with his final, best known works.

The opening piece—Mozart’s Symphony No. 39—suffered from slight problems with the orchestra’s ensemble. Shaky starts, mismatched lines, and rough endings of phrases were minor, but noticeable in the first two movements of the E-flat major symphony.

Despite the few early stumbles in the performance, the BSO did not fail to deliver on charm and grace, particularly in the third movement.

Levine drew out long lines ascending a hearty scale in the minuet. The clarinet solo featured in trio section easily captured the sweet, dance-like feel of the symphony’s shortest movement.

Yet the nimble passagework of the symphony’s finale was not characterized by the same clarity of the orchestra’s crisp trills and clean spiccato passages in the allegro section of the first movement. Some of the running notes in the woodwinds were swallowed in the playful dialogue of the virtuosic movement. But Levine successfully led the orchestra in a crowd-pleasing, toe-tapping performance of the symphony’s last movement.

In a dramatic shift from triumphant fanfare to dark lyricism, the BSO began Mozart’s famous Symphony No. 40 in G minor. With a sense of mournful yearning, the strings stressed the beginnings of the motific two-note slurs in the opening melody. The first movement tended to drag, but Levine was able to maintain the lyrical drama of the allegro molto.

In the following movement, the expressive nature of the andante tempo remained intact, though at times the orchestra’s delivery seemed perfunctory—particularly at the ends of melodic phrases. However, the lively performance of the subsequent G minor minuet featuring a charming trio section was characterized by a strong sense of direction.

Any sluggishness present in the first movement had fully dissipated by the start of the finale. The purposeful passagework added to the drama of the allegro assai, and Levine expertly maneuvered the harmonic modulations to build up to the piece’s climatic end.

The BSO concluded the all-Mozart program with a heart-warming performance of the “Jupiter” symphony, Symphony No. 41.

The initial allegro vivace felt a bit hurried at times, but the contrast between the unyielding dominance of the full orchestra sections and the ticklish charm of the second theme set off by a playful pizzicato was absolutely delightful. Levine heightened the intensity of the opening movement of Mozart’s final symphony with a never-ending series of musical twists.

The muted sounds of the strings characterizing the andante cantabile movement suggested an intimacy with the music the BSO had not previously unveiled. Levine tapered off long melodic lines with taste, and the caress of the two-note slurs were particularly sensuous.

A familiar four-note motif announced the opening of the finale movement of the “Jupiter,” and Levine led the orchestra through the movement’s polyphonic glory to the triumphant end.

With every voice, with every introduction of a theme, the BSO fueled the finale’s drama with busy passagework and joyfully accented melodies. The pace of the movement cantered more swiftly than that of any other that night, and Levine drove the performance with an unparalleled raw energy.

Despite the lukewarm start of the night, the BSO concluded the capstone of its three-part series of Mozart symphonies with a delightful performance of Mozart’s final “Jupiter” symphony.

—Staff writer June Q. Wu can be reached at junewu@fas.harvard.edu.