Tafelmusik: Mozart Jupiter | Mozart: Entractes from Thamos, King of Egypt ; Violin Concerto no. 2 in D Major ; Symphony no. 41 in C Major “Jupiter”. Rachel Podger, violin, Principal Guest Director & Tafelmusik. Sept. 27 (also 28 & 29) at Koerner Hall.
Mozart’s music, often pigeonholed as epitome of grace and beauty, has become such a mainstay that it tends to bring comfort, familiarity, and their conspiratorial friend: complacency. Prolific from a tender childhood, Mozart wrote over 600 works, the top 50 hits heard literally everywhere, in movies old and new, as the wait-music for a customer service call, ringtones: one cannot escape it.
Tafelmusik’s usual baroque programming features a kaleidoscope of riches, collections of many different works from different composers, carefully curated like a Dutch still life painting. They do present simpler programming at times, such as Beethoven symphonies, but presenting an all-Mozart program with two lesser-hits: Incidental music from Thamos, King of Egypt, and the ‘little concerto’ in D major, K. 211, was a conscious and bold decision.
Rachel Podger, in a red dress, was a tour de force from the moment she walked onto the stage. Turning toward the ensemble with her upbeat, Podger and Tafelmusik tore through Mozart’s drama. The characteristic timbre of period instruments— sinewy, with consonants, and a judicious use of vibrato, conveyed many subtleties and details that are simply not possible from large modern ensembles — and with excellent acoustic in Koerner, the round, richness of the usual renditions of Mozart we have got so used to, turned into a different experience.
Known for her yoga-inspired BOGA training: (Bow + Yoga), Podger is a physically active performer, engaging her entire body from head to toe, and to the fingertips, to express and execute. An ensemble of 30 persons needs a synergy to be together, and her physical presence, from facial to body gestures, felt sincere, clearly reciprocated from the ensemble, returning that energy with generous physical expression.
As the physical expressivity connected Podger and Tafelmusik, that synergy brought the audience to respond — we chuckled, exhaled, and our eyes moved, as they often do, into an inward personal space, where we keep beauty, in our minds, just for ourselves.
The ensemble played with technical facility and conviction. Especially for the big finisher, the “Jupiter” symphony, the passages from different woodwinds were beautiful. While modern symphonic playing heavily focuses on being matched as close as possible from one instrument to another, for example, the concept of ‘flobo,’ where the flute and oboe merge into a singular, inseparable sound, Tafelmusik highlighted the importance and the very reason of orchestral voicing: the differences, which heightened the structural clarity, and the inherent beauty of each instrument. Sandra Miller, on flute, nuanced and woody, was quite a treat.
Bolstering by the two horns, trumpets and timpani were played with great energy and colouration. The tempi in general might have shocked a few, yet were exhilarating — Tafelmusik was in fine form, where passages flowed without excess baggage, things were ‘spoken’, accentuated with rich variety in string sound production, and use of vibrato as a truly expressive device.
The best takeaway from this concert was rediscovering what is possible, from the text we all thought we knew so well. Mozart’s association with elegance has become a cliche, yet with its universal acceptance, comes blindness — we get dull toward things through familiarity, and we talk the talk, but often forget what this really means, and can mean. Graceful is another word — Mozart is always graceful, we say. But what is being graceful, in our time where fracturing to the smallest indivisible units, and drive for efficiency dominates every facet of life?
Podger and Tafelmusik breathed and spoke through the score, and gave themselves, and us, the space to be human. To follow the soundscape that is much closer to speech, where things are not confused by the constant present of big, long, vowels and constant vibratos (following that: bigger, richer is better philosophy), to be offered time to receive the dramatic gesture and to be ready to reciprocate, rather than a shove-and-snatch, the ease that came from the performers — that this isn’t about conquest of difficulties, but of creating a chance to be emotional, to be unrealistically simple.
And we were energized.
The audience left their seats, talking and gesturing in excitement — like champagne bubbles, we left the hall with fizz, each step a little lighter, humming through the night as we dispersed. We were charmed with this Mozart performance — simple, elegant, and beautiful. This is the biggest gift of life: total engagement.
It is exciting to see what will be possible for Podger’s second concert with Tafelmusik: Brilliant Baroque, at the end of January 2025.
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