Yesterday evening's performance by the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players included two works by Mozart, the Sonata for Bassoon and Cello in B flat, K. 292 (1775) and the Oboe Quartet in F, K. 370 (1781). It should be remarked at the outset that the attribution of the former piece to Mozart has been contested. The IMSLP entry for it states: "According to Grove Music, Mozart's authorship of this work is considered 'doubtful'." Originally the three-movement sonata was thought to have been composed for two bassoons rather than the arrangement given in the published version and been written for amateur bassoonist Baron Thaddäus von Dürnitz (who had also commissioned the composer's Piano Sonata No. 6 in D, K. 284 (205b) and then failed to pay for it) while Mozart was in Munich with his father Leopold supervising the preparations for his opera La finta Giardiniera, K. 196. Though the sonata was exceptionally well played, this was not a particularly inspiring work and I can well understand how some might question its authorship. If it was indeed written by Mozart, little of his genius is here apparent.
After the sonata, the ensemble performed a work by Franz Krommer, the Flute Quartet in F Major, Op. 17. Krommer was a successful Czech composer working in Vienna and a contemporary of Beethoven. He was also extremely prolific; by the time of his death in 1831, his works with opus numbers amounted to 110 plus a great many more without such designation. The quartet was most likely composed some time after Krommer was appointed Maestro di Cappella for Duke Ignaz Fuchs in 1798. This was the first opportunity I'd had to hear any of Krommer's works, but I was not greatly impressed. While the quartet was a competent enough journeyman work, it was not at all memorable. It made clear why, despite the enormous number of works to his credit, Krommer is so rarely performed today.
There are no doubts concerning the authorship of the Oboe Quartet. This is one of Mozart's most popular works, and rightfully so. Like the earlier work, it too was written on a trip to Munich. This time, Mozart was there at the invitation of Elector Karl Theodor who had commissioned from the composer the opera Idomeneo, K. 366 in 1780. The quartet itself was commissioned by Friedrich Ramm, principal oboist in the Elector's orchestra. The quartet is among the most charming of Mozart's chamber works for a wind instrument and I never tire of listening to it.
The program concluded with the String Quartet No. 14 in A flat, Op. 105 (1896) by Antonín Dvořák. This was the composer's last string quartet and the one I've always considered his best. Though it lacks the enormous popular appeal of the 12th Quartet (the "American"), the 14th is much more tightly constructed. It is as though Dvořák knew that he would not be returning again to the composition of chamber music and wished to put into this final masterpiece everything he had learned over the years. He actually began composing the brooding first movement while still in New York. Upon his return to Europe, he put the work aside while writing yet another string quartet, the Op. 106, and only returned to it after he had finished work on that piece. In the years that followed, until his death in 1904, Dvořák would concentrate his efforts on the writing of operas to such an extent that the joyous closing movement of the Op. 105 can be seen as a valediction to his composition of absolute music. The long final movement, marked allegro ma non troppo, caps the work perfectly and brings it to a most satisfying conclusion.
The guest performer at yesterday's recital was the talented violinist Xiao-Dong Wang, who is a founding member of Concertante and the winner of the Yehudi Menuhin and Wieniawski-Lipinski Competitions. His performance as first violin on the Dvořák quartet was excellent.
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