PREVIEW AND LINKS: Sound Investment: LACO to premiere Timothy Andres piece this weekend

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily
News

______________________

 

Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra; Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Timothy Andres, pianist

Andres: Old Keys (world
premiere); Mozart/Andres: “Coronation Concerto (recomposition for piano and
orchestra; Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550

Saturday, March 24, 8 p.m. Alex Theatre, Glendale

Sunday, March 25, 7 p.m. Royce Hall, UCLA

Information: www.laco.org

______________________

 

Although the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra was founded
nearly half a century ago to focus on the Baroque and Classical music genres,
LACO has also carved an impressive niche in the field of contemporary music,
especially since Jeffrey Kahane took over as music director 15 years ago.

 

One of those endeavors has been with a
composer-in-residence; Andrew Norman assumes this important role beginning in
July, the eighth person to hold the title (and the fifth appointed since Kahane
assumed the LACO reins).

 

59250-Andres.jpg

Another important venture has been the orchestra’s “Sound
Investment” series, which is now in its second decade of commissioning a new
piece each season. This year’s commission highlights this weekend’s LACO
programs: Old Keys by Palo Alto-born
composer Timothy Andres (pictured). In addition Andres performs the West Coast
premiere of his reconstruction of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major, K.
537, popularly known as the “Coronation” concerto. The concert concludes with
Mozart’s Symphony No. 40.

 

An oddity about the concerto is that Mozart wrote down
almost none of the left-hand notes. The program notes by Christine Gengaro,
PhD, relate: “The first 18 measures of the opening passage for the piano
soloist in the first movement, for example, are blank. In the first published edition,
which came out in 1794, three years after Mozart’s death, the missing parts
were filled in, probably by publisher Johann Andr. But why did Mozart leave
them blank in the first place? Judging from the types of parts he wrote in —
the more involved and virtuosic portions — we assume that Mozart left blank the
parts that were easiest to improvise on the spot.”

 

For Andres (who was born in 1985), the puzzle presented a
challenge. “I approached the piece…as a sprawling playground for pianistic
invention and virtuosity,” he says, “taking cues from the composer-pianist
tradition Mozart helped crystallize.”

 

The concerto’s other oddity is its “Coronation” nickname.
Gengaro writes, “Mozart composed the Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major in early
1788, but he did not give it the name ‘Coronation,’ nor was it specifically
written for a coronation. However, he did play it more than two years after he
composed the piece — a year after its premiere — at the coronation of Leopold
II (as Holy Roman Emperor), hence the nickname.”

 

Brian in his Blog “Out West Arts” has posted one of his
informative “Ten Questions” interviews with Andres HERE. Timo (as he calls himself)
also has his own unique Web site; check out the whacky rendition of “At the
River” on the home-page video (LINK)

_______________________

 

(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email