Festival Mozart - Mozart/Michael Haydn & Franz Joseph Haydn - 07/19/24

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/Michael Haydn: Symphony No. 37 in G Major 

Franz Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto No.1 in C Major, Hob.VIIb:1 

Franz Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 6 in D Major (Morning) 

Orchestre des Pays de Savoie 

Pieter-Jelle de Boer: Conductor 

Astrig Siranossian: Cello 

Back when they were writing the concerts’ programs, the Association Saoû Chante Mozart (Saoû Chante Mozart) may have lacked a vivid imagination—or a broad vocabulary—when, after qualifying Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major of “sublime”, they used the exact same superlative to describe Franz Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1, which was also part of the Festival Mozart. But then again, anybody even remotely familiar with those two works would be hard-pressed to disagree. 

So my mom and I did what any right-minded music lover would have done and got tickets to the Friday evening concert in the 12th-century Collégiale Sainte-Croix de Montélimar, the local urban hub closest to us. And since we made it to our destination way too early (Anybody who thinks of me as obsessively punctual has obviously not met my mom), we took a very pleasant walk around the small pedestrian historic center while waiting to take shelter from the heat inside the rather austere but incontestably beautiful collegiate church. 

After the de rigueur opening speeches, it seemed appropriate to have a work by Mozart kick things off, the festival bearing his name and all, but his Symphony No. 37 in G Major came with an interesting twist as it turned out it had in fact been originally composed by Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Franz Joseph Haydn, as Symphony No. 25 in G Major, Mozart contributing no more than a brief introduction and a slightly altered instrumentation (Hey, the guy was on a tight deadline and occasionally came through for his buddy Michael as well). And apparently nobody was the wiser until over a century later. 

Thing is, in the ultra-capable hands of the vivacious Orchestre des Pays de Savoie led by their Dutch music director, as well as pianist, organist and conductor, Pieter-Jelle de Boer, the music appeared solidly planted in Viennese tradition, and while it did sound at times a bit simplistic for having come out of one of the most sophisticated musical minds of all times, it was also kind of easy to pinpoint the barely noticeable difference when one knew the piece’s background. In the end, regardless of its genesis, the symphony was a lovely treat. 

But let’s face it. We were all there for Haydn’s Cello Concerto No.1, especially since it would be performed by Astrig Siranossian, a local rising star whose appearance in a free-flowing canary yellow gown and sparkly shoes, not to mention a cheerful disposition, felt like the sudden arrival of pure sunshine into the grand church. That said, visuals are not everything, but as soon as she began to play, we all realized that she also had impressive musical chops. 

Haydn’s joyful Cello Concerto No.1 is awfully easy to love, with its old-fashioned charm punctuated by graceful melodies and understated witticisms. It definitely sounded like Siranossian and the orchestra were having a lot of fun with it, and consequently so did we. Our only quibble was that the acoustics of the space did not always allow the cello to stand out much, but I may have my mom and her insistence to sit as near the front as possible to blame for that. Oh, and the random bursts of applause during the performance were kind of distracting too, but it is hard to fault people for appreciating good music when they hear it. 

Our musical experience was markedly improved when the whole orchestra enthusiastically launched into Haydn’s Symphony No. 6, another finely crafted and all-around lively composition that he wrote for his new employer, the all-powerful Hungarian prince Esterhazy, who provided Haydn with ample support, even his own orchestra. And since the work’s first movement began with a slow and mesmerizing description of sunrise, it was quickly nicknamed “Morning”. 

Besides its natural attractiveness, the symphony is also popular with musicians and listeners because it allows quite a few instruments to shine on their own thanks to ingeniously conceived and adroitly incorporated solos, the lucky few including the elegant first violin, the assertive horns, the agile flute and the sharp bassoon. And shine they all did on Friday evening, and so did the entire orchestra. We had a very bright “Morning” last Friday evening, and we enjoyed it to the fullest. 

Once the official program over, in an unusual move, Pieter-Jelle de Boer took centre stage and made an emotional plea for help on behalf of the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, the valuable ensemble having recently heard that the Savoie region had decided to withdraw its financial contribution starting 2025, effectively killing one of its main lifelines. A petition and fund-raising effort are underway, and one can only hope that the orchestra will still be around for many more mornings. 

But then, we simply could not part on this doom and gloom note. 

The overly demonstrative audience members who had been shushed into contrition during the cello concerto apparently had not been willing to take another chance, and the legitimate applause from the rest of us at the end of the performance had not been quite extended enough to earn us an encore. But we thankfully still got it in the end, when Siranossian came back and proved that she was not only a superb musician, but an accomplished singer as well, with the quietly moving traditional Armenian song “Sareri Hovin Mernem”. And then we headed off into the cooler Montélimar evening to go back to even cooler Dieulefit.