When one thinks about Leonard Bernstein and the Mozart Requiem it is usually about Leonard Bernstein conducting the Mozart Requiem. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra's Music Director Carolyn Kuan gave us a new way of thinking about Bernstein and Mozart in a program that juxtaposed the first symphony by Bernstein with the last (and incomplete) work written by Mozart. Both works deal with complex religious subjects and both have very unique orchestral colors. The concept led to an engaging evening of music as Kuan led the symphony orchestra in this Masterworks Series concert in the Belding Theater at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts.
The opening movement of the Bernstein symphony contrasted rich, articulate chords with lyrical lines. Barbara Hill focused the horn solo that opened the work and set the spirit of its intensity, and the orchestra responded with sound that developed and grew. Kuan shaped the direction of its energy with effective control and helped inspire a long, quiet close to the movement that was an answer to its forceful chords.
The metric shifts of the second movement fit together like intricate puzzle pieces. Balances remained thoughtful and the fluidity of motion never flagged.
Mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford joined the orchestra as soloist in the third movement. Mumford just finished a run as Margret in Alban Berg's nightmarish opera "Wozzeck" at the Met. Here she revealed remarkable versatility in emotional range as she sang lamentations set in Hebrew. Her voice was often warm, but she had the vocal power to sound like a trumpet when joined by the brass. The brighter colors of her voice emerged in the sections surrounded by woodwinds.
The symphony was well received, and several people were quietly humming snippets of the third movement during intermission.
After intermission we heard the Süssmayr completion of the Mozart Requiem. Mumford rejoined the orchestra as mezzo-soprano soloist, and was joined by soprano Patricia Schuman, tenor Andrew Stenson, and bass-baritone Matthew Burns. This all-star cast of soloists was individually impressive on occasion, but seemed to have difficulty hearing one another, especially across the podium, and balances in the solo quartet passages were seldom satisfying.
The unique sound world of this work was heightened by the use of two basset horns, and the orchestra played clean rhythms and found perfect balances that supported by did not cover the singers. Kuan took brisk tempos, especially in the Kyrie and Rex tremendae. She unfolded the work with care and allowed us to savor its tasty passages without lingering too long.
But the real superstars of the evening were the members of the Hartford Chorale, prepared by their music director Richard Coffey. The huge choral force attacked the challenging music of the Kyrie with amazing vitality and sang its tricky figuration with clarity. They had incredible power but also listened across the stage and all four parts of the chorus could be heard without difficulty. They produced bigger than life during the "Dies Irae," and the high tenor music of the "Confutatis maledictis" was rounded and unstrained. One of the great tests for any chorus in the Requiem is that the music of the Kyrie returns as the "cum sanctus tuis in aeternum" to close the evening. One can hardly blame a chorus if they tire and are pushed around by the demands of this fugue the second time around. Not the Hartford Chorale. They didn't tire. They blazed again.
The big sound of the Hartford Chorale made this performance a statement of the multitude.
"Hartford Symphony Orchestra's Mozart's Requiem'' continues through Sunday, April 13, in the Belding Theater at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford.. Sunday's performance is sold out but a limited number of tickets remain for 8 p.m. performances Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12. For tickets: 860-244-2999 or www.hartfordsymphony.org.