Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra offers Mozart-inspired musical journey

Titled "Moonlit Melodies," the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra's chamber concert Monday in First Presbyterian Church offers phases varied as luna herself, said Natassia Perrine, the symphony's executive director.

With pieces both written and inspired by Mozart, spanning 18th to 21st centuries, "I feel like this is more of like a musical journey, a 360, with the pieces tying together the old and the new," she said, noting music director Adam Flatt laid out that path.

It's one that showcases strings, horns and timpani in the more intimate setting of the downtown church's high-arched sanctuary, where seating is limited to 500. Audiences can sit on the same level as the players, instead of viewing them on a raised stage, as in the Moody Concert Hall.

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The repertoire includes "String Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major," by Felix Mendelssohn; the most contemporary piece in "Mozart's Hymn," composed by Daniel Kellogg and premiered in 2006; "Suite Modale" by Ernest Bloch, featuring TSO principal flutist Diane Boyd Schultz; "Quiet City," drawn from incidental music Aaron Copland wrote for Irwin Shaw's 1939 play of the same name; and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Serenata Notturna."

The concert leans on strings particularly, but with flute, English horn, trumpet and timpani, in an ideal opportunity to hear and see musicians more closely, hear the sound "one on one," Perrine said. Bloch's "Suite Modale," originally written for piano and flute, will be played in an arrangement for strings and flute.

"It's atmospheric, more introspective; Bloch expressing his spirituality through the music," Perrine said.

Eric Yates will be featured on trumpet, and Jennifer Case on English horn, in the Copland piece, where the horns represent the voices of characters in Shaw's work.

"The play itself didn't really take off, but Copland's score lived on," she said, being widely requested by patrons. "It's a softer vibe, some variety for the evening."

Timpanist Jason Baker will shake things up on the Mozart work.

"Percussion's typically not heard in a small chamber orchestra," she said, but the opening movement, marked maestoso — majestic — begins with with a bold, march-like feel underneath driving strings.

Kellogg was commissioned by the L'Ensemble Orchestral de Paris for a work to commemorate Mozart's 250th birthday. He based "Mozart's Hymn" on the composer's "Ave Verum Corpus," a motet ― choral work of diverse styles, drawing as far back as high medieval forms ― and wrote it for16 parts, so each of the TSO's players will be featured, in counterparts.

"Usually when you think of contemporary compositions, you think 'Am I even going to find the tune?,' But Kellogg does a really great job of taking classical sounds and bringing them into the 21st century," Perrine said.

One of Perrine's chief aims, now in her second season with the TSO, is to help educate, through videos and personal appearances, about the performances.

"One barrier is people thinking 'I don't know anything about this; this isn't for me.' So my goal is to provide this information on an ongoing basis, so they can make themselves more familiar," she said.

But folks may already know more than they think they know. Being that time of year, "A Christmas Story" played on a television in the background as Perrine worked the other day, and in the scene where Scut Farkas and Grover Dill attack Ralphie, Flick, Schwartz and Randy, she heard Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" playing. That's just one of countless examples, she said, woven throughout history and pop culture.

"Because of the diverse nature of the five pieces programmed Monday, this would be a really interesting first-time concert. Some familiar things, works of an intimate nature, and the closeness to the musicians," she said.

Tickets are $30 to $40, with students admitted free, to "Moonlit Melodies," which begins 7 p.m. Monday in First Presbyterian Church, 900 Greensboro Ave., downtown Tuscaloosa.

The pre-show Cheers 'n' Chat reception will be held across 10th Street at the Battle-Friedman House and Gardens. For a $15 donation to the Tuscaloosa Symphony Guild, patrons can enjoy wine and live performances. Flatt will be available to answer questions. All proceeds will support the March 4, 2024, children's concert, "Carnival of the Animals." For more, see www.tsoonline.org, or call 205-752-5515.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: First Presbyterian Church will host Tuscaloosa Symphony concert