Nothing like a little musical mystery to liven up a late winter night. That is precisely what the Santa Clarita Master Chorale is offering with its performance of the Mozart Requiem Mass in D this coming March. Several movements of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s classic were written or orchestrated by one of his students, Franz Süssmyer. The poor fellow’s efforts have been slammed ever since as being far inferior to whatever Mozart would have written if he hadn’t died on a cold December day in 1791 before completing the work.
Aside from Amadeus, Peter Shaffer’s intriguing stage play (1979) and the subsequent movie adaptation (1984) by Milos Forman, you likely have heard this music, you just may not have realized it. The Big Lebowski and Eyes Wide Shut use the score. Also on the movie list is X Men 2 and Life of Brian – even the Freedom Fighters video game! Finally, in the “unclear on the concept” department, a certain operating system manufacturer used the Dies Irae to herald its newest version. (Really? You want to use the words “day of wrath” to talk about your new product?)
Among the scattered contemporary attempts at “a better Mozart Req” is one by the ebullient American pianist and musicologist Robert Levin, which is the version chosen for this performance by the Chorale’s artistic director, Allan Petker. “Ever since I read about this new attempt, I’ve wanted to perform it,” he says. Petker will also present a free pre-concert lecture to add to your understanding and appreciation of the music.
Levin is not timid: he tosses many of Süssmyer’s orchestrations and offers his own well-thought work for several movements based on surviving sketches from Mozart himself and what the master did in similar compositions. The New York Times writer Anthony Tommasini wrote in 1995 “…completing the Mozart Requiem is no job for a pussyfooter. Mr. Levin is willing to stack his fugal writing alongside the master’s and take the consequences, which in this case are mostly happy.” More to Mozart’s style, the choral parts in Levin’s version are made more prominent: a little less orchestra, a little more voice. The soaring drama and quiet moments – all the things we love about Mozart’s music – have a chance to truly shine in Levin’s arrangements.
Mark your calendar now and make plans to join the Chorale on Sunday, March 15 at 4 p.m. at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons, with the 3 p.m. pre-concert lecture.
For more information or tickets, go to the Chorale’s website, www.scmasterchorale.org, or call 661-362-5304.