Throughout 2006, during the 250th anniversary year of his birth, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his work were celebrated far and wide. This year, for no apparent reason, San Diego appears to be celebrating Ludwig van Beethoven, having witnessed theatrical productions at La Jolla Playhouse and The Old Globe Theatre. It’s as if Beethoven finally got his own hit show, like Wolfie got “Amadeus.”
As icing on Beethoven’s cake, the Mainly Mozart Festival kicked off its 20th anniversary season June 10 (through June 21) with British pianist John Lill’s performance of Beethoven’s five piano concertos. Mozart influenced Beethoven profoundly. Most musicologists agree that the two composers met in Vienna when Beethoven was 17. Some sources say Beethoven played for Mozart, and still others believe Mozart may have given Beethoven a few lessons before the boy returned to Bonn to tend to his terminally ill mother. When Beethoven returned to Vienna, Mozart had died.
June 10 marked the first time Lill has played the complete Beethoven concertos in one evening. He played on the stage of the newly restored Balboa Theatre along with the 55-member Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, conducted by festival founder and artistic director David Atherton. Mainly Mozart is the resident ensemble at the acoustically superior Horton Plaza venue, which was built in 1924, seats 1,300 and reopened earlier this year.
“The biggest thing is having a home after 20 years,” said Atherton, who proclaimed the theater ideal. “First of all, it’s downtown, and since we left the Spreckels, we haven’t had a downtown home. We’ve been doing concerts all over the place. In one sense, people quite liked that, because we served lots of different communities; but it meant the festival had no heart.
“This year,” Atherton continued, “we have a mini-theme within the main festival, doing the works of Richard Strauss, works from all periods of his life” (seven of the nine festival programs include works by Strauss). “Because we are Mainly Mozart, obviously, 51 percent [of the music] is Mozart.”
Many concert programs feature both the orchestra and smaller ensembles playing chamber music by various composers.
Atherton termed Lill’s inaugural concert “a feat unheard of. Back in the ’80s, he did all the concertos and sonatas with me in San Diego, but he’s never done all the concertos in one evening, and I don’t believe anybody else has. He’s totally steeped in Beethoven and knows more about him than almost anybody I’ve ever met.”
Lill finds Beethoven challenging because of the composer’s range.
“It’s every human emotion and far more. I’ve had a great feeling of affinity since I was very young ” chemically, musically and spiritually. In my most inspired moments when playing, I’m very much in between two worlds. I can see other dimensions, which are incredible. There’s no question that I play better in these circumstances than I do normally.”
Three days after the inaugural concert, the British pianist plays a recital comprising Mozart’s Fantasy in C minor, K. 475, Robert Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9, Franz Joseph Haydn’s Piano Sonata in E flat, H. XVI: 52, and Franz Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor.
A new Steinway is always good news, especially the Balboa Theatre’s, which Atherton terms “a first-class instrument.” But the really big news is the Balboa itself. The true joy for everyone, including the audience, is like a family coming together once again to make and to listen to good music.
For complete programming, visit www.mainlymozart.org, pick up a brochure at the Balboa Theatre box office, 868 4th Ave., or call (619) 239-0100, ext 2.