San Francisco Classical Voice

Mozart's six-movement trio really is the ultra plus ultra of string trios. Not even Beethoven managed to top its quality, breadth of grandeur, and sense of nobility with a light touch. Cleve mentioned its Masonic connections, which may account for Mozart's using E-flat Major, which is not a happy camping ground for strings, especially the violin. You won't find a lot of violin concertos in that key — indeed, I can't think of any. But E-flat is a key that has something (I confess that I don't know what) to do with the Masonic movement, in which Mozart was involved. Several of his later compositions leaned on this key, not least The Magic Flute.

Other hints of Masonic aesthetics are evident, as well. The last of the andante's variations presents the theme in augmentation, rather like a chorale embedded in quick figurations from the other two players. That hints at the cantus firmus technique of Renaissance polyphony. Mozart used this as a kind of insider's joke, as most people would hardly have recognized or understood this technique.

Compared with many of Mozart's chamber works, the technical demands are unusually stringent here, especially in the tricky chromatic scales, which are of uncommon length for a divertimento. You hear almost nothing of those little sleight-of-hand slippages into minor chords for a momentary touch of poignancy, which commonly occur in the other late divertimentos and serenades, especially the Divertimentos Nos. 15 and 17 for string orchestra and horns.

The six movements of this trio amount to something akin to a pair of trios, each in three movements. One hears two allegro movements (the first and sixth), two slow movements (an adagio as second, and the andante variations as fourth), plus two highly contrasting minuets (the third and fifth). The first minuet is a charming thing and not at all atypical. The second, however, is set out as a rondo in folksy style, the first trio as an Austrian dance, a Ländler that sounds like pure Haydn. Again, it is a joke for insiders, literally in the spirit of a diversion, which is what divertimento means.

Cleve began his remarks by expressing his surprise at the size of the audience, somewhere between 150 and 200. (Many were holdovers from the preceding service.) On the other hand, this series usually has a reputation for quality musicians and programming, presented basically for free. As they are currently on a matching fund-raising drive, they requested a $5 donation — requested, not required.

The acoustics in St. Patrick's are excellent and echo-free. Despite its rather bland exterior — it's the old red brick church on Mission Street across from Moscone Center — the inside of the 1851 building is a jewel. It contains an unusual blend of French Gothic vaulting with Spanish Renaissance elaboration, including inlaid marble in the columns. The stained-glass windows on all sides are as complex and ornate as any I've seen in the area and, indeed, the country.

The Midsummer Mozart musicians played well, excepting a momentary slip in intonation or ensemble. That's understandable in so taxing a composition as K. 563. In close to five decades of reviewing, I have yet to hear a flawless performance of this work, save on recordings — and those, no doubt, are due as much to retakes as to anything else.

The second of these Midsummer Mozart Festival preludes is to take place on Wednesday, July 12. Cleve will conduct Mozart's Gran Partita in B-flat Major, K. 361, for 13 winds and a string bass — the piece of which Salieri in the play/movie Amadeus was so envious. (I assume that Mozart's cutesy misspelling of Grand Partita was intended as another prank.) The festival proper is offering four performances, each including two programs of orchestral Mozart, in four locations: Santa Clara, San Francisco, Sonoma's Gundlach Bundschu Winery, and Berkeley, during July 20-30.

But for a combination of fine music and pleasant surroundings, you can't beat the Noontime Concerts series. And the price is right.