With the second concert conducted by Michele Mariotti The 2023/2024 Symphonic Season of the Haydn Foundation comes to an end.
After thirteen events (fourteen, if we want to include the last stage of the Nagano Project), the final balance is positive, both in terms of public appreciation and the quality of the proposals and executions. Of course, not all that glitters is gold, like some appointments with Pletnëv not exactly in the evening and Nagano a bit listless, or the “barbaric” Overtures that didn’t catch on, but they are just small flaws in a well-thought-out program: a better outcome was achieved by the “In first person plural” initiative, which allowed the orchestra’s leading members to achieve well-deserved personal successes.
Although today it is universally considered a masterpiece of orchestration, the Fifth Symphony by Mahler, known to most for the fourth movement, the famous one Adagietto recurring as a leitmotif of Death in Venice in Luchino Visconti’s film adaptation, it cost the composer second thoughts and uncertainties: his outburst in which he stated that it was a cursed symphony because no one had yet understood it remained famous. The one who understood and studied it thoroughly is Mariotti himself, as demonstrated by the emotional and physical transport with which he leads theHaydn Orchestra (in collaboration with some of the students of the two conservatories of the capitals of Trentino Alto Adige, the “Claudio Monteverdi” of Bolzano and the “FA Bonporti” of Trento) without ever losing sight of the musical coordinates.
In fact, the director succeeds in the difficult task of not making the Fifth a potpourri of different movements but a wide-ranging organic symphony, complex and varied but faithful to itself from the first to the last note. The dynamics are calibrated, the volumes never overflowing, the cohesion of the individual sections as always optimal: the solo horn solos are successful (Andrea Brunati) predominant in Joke. The performance is commendable not only from an executive point of view but also from an emotional point of view: all the sensations that the Symphony inspires emerge, the pain of Funeral marchthe disturbances of Stormy movingthe hilarity of Jokethe languor ofAdagietto and finally the joyful explosion of Final rondo.
The audience that packed theTrento Auditorium he proved to be literally hypnotized and more attentive than ever to the performance, then melting into cathartic and liberating consensus towards the orchestra and Mariotti, who, with gratitude and humility, willingly shared the success by individually thanking all the sections of the Haydn. Repeated and endless applause seals the conclusion of this long but successful season.
The review refers to the concert on Wednesday 12 June 2024.
Martino Pinali
