The Adagio from Mozart's Violin Concerto in B Flat Major, performed on original instruments by the award winning Early Music ensemble Voices of Music. Augusta McKay Lodge, classical violin. This work is here presented in 8K video for the for the first time.
Because Mozart is rightly regarded of as one of the great keyboard virtuosi of his generation, it can be easy to forget that in many of his first prominent positions and opportunities, he worked as a violinist. In 1772, he was hired as a salaried concertmaster in Salzburg, a position he had already been holding on an honorary basis for three years. It is possibly for himself, in this position, that he wrote his first violin concerto. While it was previously thought that all five of Mozart’s violin concerti were composed in 1775, more recent evidence suggests that this one dates to two years prior, during a period when the teenage composer was seeking greater stability and exhibiting increased maturity in his compositions.
Here, Mozart displays his comfort with standard concerto practices of the period, although all three movements are in sonata forms—an unusually serious choice for a genre that often served as a vehicle for facile showmanship. Particularly lovely is the expansive middle movement, where the young composer’s keen operatic sensibilities are on full display.
--Sophie Benn, PhD.
Historical performance of Mozart
Although Mozart and his contemporaries are mainstays of modern concert repertory, historical performances, using the instruments, bows, strings, styles and techniques of the time are relatively rare.
Of the above, the most important was the direction of the orchestra and the skills of the musicians. In the late 18th century, as in the baroque, the orchestra was not conducted, but led from the keyboard or the violin. In addition, audiences came to see virtuosi perform, and the leader of the orchestra was invariably a world-class composer and performer. Mozart was highly skilled both as a violinist and a keyboard player, and at an early age wrote to his father requesting permission to effect a major change in the way his music was performed: that the son lead the orchestra from his preferred instrument, the keyboard, as opposed to the instrument of his father, the violin. In our performances the violin concertos are led from the violin, and the symphonies are led from the keyboard.
Directing the orchestra with an instrument has a unique advantage: the leader is able to speak and spark continuously to the ensemble and audience through the language of music. On the keyboard, the music is completely improvised from the score, just as in the baroque: this creates a unique layer and texture of music which is completely absent in a modern performance.
Period instruments give Mozart a unique sound and unparalleled transparency. Notably, the bass line is supported by the Viennese bass, with a different tuning and resonance than the double bass or violone.
*Voices of Music Classical Orchestra*
Hanneke van Proosdij, director & keyboard
Augusta McKay Lodge, soloist
First violins
Elizabeth Blumenstock,** Aniela Eddy & Shelby Yamin
Second violins
Lisa Grodin, Kati Kyme* & Linda Quan
Violas
Maria Caswell* Mitso Floor & Anthony Martin
Violoncelli: William Skeen* & Elisabeth Reed
Viennese double bass: Farley Pearce*
Horns: Elisabeth Axtell & Sadie Glass*
Oboes: Pablo O’Connell & Marc Schachman*
**concertmaster *principal
Performed on period instruments
Augusta McKay Lodge is a historically informed violinist, globally established at a young age as leader, chamber musician, and soloist. As a soloist in demand both in the U.S. and abroad, Augusta has appeared with Voices of Music, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien, the American Classical Orchestra, Juilliard415, Jupiter Ensemble, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, and more.
Augusta has been awarded many prizes, including the Juilliard Historical Performance Concerto Competition, the San Francisco Classical Voice (SFCV) Audience Choice Awards. Augusta is director of Voices of Music’s Emerging Artists Program, which brings video educational courses and masterclasses to conservatories around the United States.
A native of Oberlin, Ohio currently residing in Paris, Augusta holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Indiana University Jacobs School, and the Juilliard School (Kovner Fellow, English Concert American Fellow, Mercury-Juilliard Fellow). She performs on a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin (1867) and a baroque-copy Jason Viseltear violin (2014). Bookings: Suòno Artist Management.
#Amadeus
Boby Borisov, audio engineer and ambisonics design
Video: Lloyd Hryciw & David Tayler
8K technology: David Tayler
Post production: David Tayler & Augusta McKay Lodge
All copyright 2023 Voices of Music

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