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SYMPHONY REVIEW
March 4, 2006
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By Anna Carol Dudley
It was Philharmonia Baroque's turn to celebrate Mozart's birthday this
week, and Saturday's concert at the First Congregational Church of
Berkeley was a splendid celebration. Soprano Cyndia Sieden wowed the
crowd with arias Mozart wrote for the virtuosa high soprano Aloysia
Weber — arias featuring impressive agility, flawless intonation, a
range extending up to the F above high C, and superb timing and dramatic
sensibility — all qualities which Ms. Sieden possesses in abundance.
In two Italian arias, "Mia speranza adorata" and "Vorrei spiegarvi,
oh Dio" (the latter beautifully partnered by oboist Gonzalo Ruiz), she
easily negotiated extended flights of coloratura and large jumps
across her range, all in the service of emotional expression.
Sieden, her repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music,
is an embodiment of the truth that if you can sing Mozart well, you can
sing anything. Mozart demands beautiful vocal color, especially in
his Italian works; the use of breath and rhythmic sense to move easily
between sustained legato and fizzy coloratura; a fine ear for tuning;
and response to harmonic nuance.
Change the verb "sing" to "play" in the above statement, and it
applies to Eric Hoeprich, who opened the concert with Mozart's A-major
clarinet concerto, which he played on a basset
clarinet, a copy made by Hoeprich himself of one used by Anton Stadler
in Mozart's time. The instrument extends the clarinet range downward,
giving it rich low notes and a beauty of sound throughout its range.
Mozart wrote for clarinet as he wrote for voice, and Hoeprich played
the rangy music vocally. He, like a fine Mozart singer, produced a
lovely sound, reveled in large jumps, and responded expressively to
heavenly harmonic changes, as in the adagio movement. His performance
was livened by little crescendi on leading tones, expressive use of
pauses, and a dancing last movement ably abetted by the orchestra.
After intermission, Sieden came back to sing in German. Her vocal color changed with the language, first in a rather lightweight piece — along the lines of "You've been a sweet audience," then in the powerful outburst by Die Zauberflöte's Queen of the Night, "O zittre nicht." She moved with great dramatic force from the anguish of a grieving mother to the urgent challenge to Tamino to free Pamina, as Mozart moved her coloratura into high gear. For an encore, she sang the Queen's other aria. Every 16th-note was in place, every triplet was a real triplet, and the Queen's distress was magnificently portrayed. In fact she was so engaged that her vocal health was endangered in a couple of spots. She needs to heed the instrumentalists around her, and not to press her bow too hard into the string or her breath too much against the reed when she gets excited. Symphony No. 40 was the concert's finale. Philharmonia's gift for rhythmic vivacity graced the first movement. The strings dug into a driving, relentless andante and a decidedly serious, un-Baroque menuet, then danced brilliantly through the breakneck last movement, the winds also rising magnificently to the occasion. A grand end to a grand concert.
(Anna Carol Dudley is a singer, teacher, member of the faculty of UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University lecturer emerita, and director emerita of the San Francisco Early Music Society's Baroque Music Workshop.)
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Cyndia Sieden
Eric Hoeprich
