Mozart pianists are dazzling

MOZART PIANO, Libby Gardner Concert Hall, University of Utah, Sunday.

The University of Utah's ongoing celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday anniversary has been an incisive and thorough exploration of the composer's oeuvre.

Since the beginning of February, the series has delved into nearly every facet of Mozart's output, from small chamber works to large-scale choral music. And the series will culminate later this month in a production of what is arguably his greatest and most famous opera, "Don Giovanni."

In the realm of symphonic music, the festival organizers decided to spotlight Mozart's piano concertos in lieu of his symphonies. And Sunday's concert was devoted to three of Mozart's mature piano concertos: Nos. 17 in G major, K. 453; 20 in D minor, K. 466; and 23 in A major, K 488.

In Mozart's hands, the piano concerto became more than just a showcase for the soloist. To be sure, they do tax the pianist's abilities in terms of late-18th century technical skills and dexterity. But beyond that, Mozart infused the classical piano concerto form with a breadth and depth that is symphonic in scope.

Mozart took the concerto conventions of his day and reworked them and gave them an insightfulness and profundity not found in the concertos of his contemporaries. And in a work such as the D minor Concerto, Mozart even clearly points the way toward the romanticism of the early 19th century. It's not surprising, then, that Beethoven and other composers admired the D minor Concerto and regarded it as a prototype from which to proceed.

Mozart wrote the three concertos that were played Sunday for his own use. Consequently, they are technically demanding and challenging works for the pianist. And the three soloists Sunday, all members of the U.'s school of music faculty, performed them with dazzling virtuosity and luminous musicality.

Vedrana Subotic (No. 17), Ning Lu (No. 20) and Heather Conner (No. 23) played these works with crystalline articulation and carefully wrought phrasings that captured the subtlety and nuances of the writing.

Both Subotic and Conner emphasized the bright, sunny air of their respective works with their light playing and elegant and sophisticated approach.

Lu, on the other hand, while still coloring his playing with elegance, nevertheless gave a more highly charged and dramatic reading of the D minor Concerto than might have been expected. He brought stormy passion and romantic intensity to his interpretation. But to his credit, Lu's playing was never exaggerated or overstated. He managed to achieve a fine balance between classical restraint and romantic fervor.

Accompanying the soloists was the Mozart Festival Orchestra, consisting of students, members of the faculty, U. alumni and area freelancers. They were under the baton of Robert Baldwin and played admirably.

Baldwin's direction brought a cohesiveness to the performances that smoothed over some of the (occasional) rough spots in each of the concertos.

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E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com