Lunalia (Festival van Vlaanderen Mechelen) offered on Sunday, May 5, 2019 under the banner '100 % Mozart' a program, immediately the last in the series with Reinoud Van Mechelen as artist in residence, featuring exclusively music by Mozart. The singer also conducted his ensemble A Nocte Temporis, founded in 2016.
100 % Mozart, the concert theme could not have been chosen more appropriately. 100 % Mozart because of the programming – only works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – but also because of the quality of the works, however young or less young Mozart was when he composed one thing or another, and also because of the outstanding quality of the performance. To this was added an architectural and artistic interpretation thanks to the venue of the concert: the Sint-Pieter en -Paulkerk at the Veemarkt in Mechelen. The church, after a successful interior restoration, has more the appearance of a baroque palace hall than anything else with its abundant gold, white marble paintings, magnificent sculpture in marble and wood – the pulpit and the confessionals! – and an absolutely unique series (still to be restored) of paintings that form a whole. A feast for the eyes, and when 100 % Mozart sounds there, then your evening is a beautiful dream that comes true.
Reinoud Van Mechelen chose lesser-known works by the greatest musical genius in history. A choice that emphasized that genius. Very responsible and even so exceptionally good that I hope to see this offered on far more stages and, if possible, on CD.
The concert opened with the overture to the barely performed opera Mitridate (KV87). Why is it less frequently performed? Because the quality is limited? I don't think so. Mozart's early operas are 'the victim' of the even more absolute quality of the unparalleled later operas including the three Da Ponte's and Die Zauberflöte. Well, you hear in that overture by the 13/14-year-old composer some scholarly form stemming from the baroque, but you undoubtedly hear 100 % Mozart. His personality is already completely there, and the maturity of the overture and especially of the aria that Van Mechelen sang after the overture are of enormous musical value. The programmed aria Se di Lauri (K87) is all profound text comprehension and emotion. 14 years old… Van Mechelen sings with visible respect for the young genius his creation. The text sings the sorrow of a defeated hero who nevertheless preserves his pride.
Even more astonishing and also already 100 % Mozart is the concert aria Va, dal furor portata (K21). K21, a very early work, indeed. The little fine Mozart was 8 (eight!) years old when he composed this phenomenal aria. An aria that demands an almost insane professionalism from the singer. Virtuosity coupled with rare depth, and one must master and perform that. Well, it is still a bit baroque, but if you inconspicuously inserted this aria into a later work by Mozart, only specialists would hear that it doesn't belong there. Try it as a child, as an eight-year-old boy at a time when children that age were still happily playing in the mud and jumping carefree in puddles – now they sit with their screens busy – to set this text to music:
Go, driven by fury,
Reveal the betrayal;
But remember, ungrateful one,
Who the traitor is,
Expose the devised deception,
But consider at that moment,
That I gave you life,
And that you take it from me.
(translation from Italian by Marjolein van Zuylen)
Mozart did it effortlessly and Reinoud Van Mechelen sang it, and how! This work suits his high lyrical voice very well. The singer manages to combine bravura with the seriousness of the situation, the drama, the betrayal. He sings what an 8-year-old child understood better than many an adult who disappears into superficiality.
Somehow, while listening, I suddenly lose my bearings. Setting such a text to music and at that age… And sitting there in that church I suddenly feel very grateful to the singer-conductor for programming this. He doesn't just bring "100% Mozart" here, he brings an ode to this never sufficiently praised genius who bestowed infinite Beauty upon mankind, just because he couldn't help it, because it had to be. I could wipe away a tear.
That tear calls up Mozart in Misere O sogno (K431), a concert aria from his 'later' period. Later in quotation marks because can you speak of 'later' work for someone who died at 35? But setting that aside, here too you can only speak of 100% Mozart, just as in the following works. And again we have a singer who, together with his excellent orchestra performing on period instruments, pays particular homage to the composer and the composition. Van Mechelen refuses to impose himself and know better in any way. He shows the greatest respect for Mozart and his compositions and is simply pleased if he hopes to have approached the composer's wishes and insights.
Somewhat too cautious is the performance of the second flute concerto. This could be played with more verve, at least that's how I feel it, although I note that the traverso (the wooden transverse flute from that period) may not have come sufficiently into its own due to the church's still somewhat limited acoustic quality. More verve could have been brought to the playing by soloist Anne Besson, who otherwise performed this refined concerto with great affection and singing bowing, caressing it lovingly.
A lengthy applause broke out after the final aria Se al labbro mio non credi (K295). Like the previous arias, not the most joyful, as it is full of sorrow because a beloved refuses to believe in the lover's soul. That's how it goes in love…
As an encore, Reinoud Van Mechelen switched to the German Mozart repertoire with the aria Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton from Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. The cheerful note that closed this rich evening and once again emphasized that this was indeed 100% Mozart.
WHAT: 100% Mozart
WHO: Reinoud Van Mechelen (vocals and direction), Anne Besson (flute) and baroque ensemble A Necto Temporis
ORGANIZATION: Lunalia – Festival van Vlaanderen Mechelen
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