Sage Mace (left) and Robin Sutherland at J-B Piano (Michael Phillips Photo)

ALASDAIR NEALE CONDUCTS HAYDN AND MOZART AT MARIN SYMPHONY CONCERT

Poignancy and passion, or possibly “Sturm and Drang,” was certainly the intended focus of the Marin Symphony’s third concert of the season Feb. 1in San Rafael’s Marin Center’s auditorium.

Music Director Alasdair Neale led the orchestra in three works by Haydn and Mozart that typify this late 18th-Century movement of emotionalism and passion. It was the beginning of a new form replacing the old. Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 in F minor (La Passione) began the evening and the four movements, all in the dramatic key of F minor, makes this work the archetypical example of the composer’s emotional and dynamic imagination. The orchestra seemed to perfectly capture the emotion of this infrequently heard but important example of middle-period Haydn. It set the stage for the two Mozart works that followed.

The centerpiece of the concert of the season was the Mozart Piano C Major Concerto, No. 25, K 503. Robin Sutherland, the orchestra pianist of the San Francisco Symphony, performed this masterpiece concerto with deft technique and tonal beauty. No wonder Mr. Sutherland is known as “the perfect Mozart pianist.” The work is one of Mozart’s longest and it was a tour de force performance. The cadenza at the end of the first movement was perhaps unexpected as Mr. Sutherland chose to follow the out-of fashion tradition of the soloist improvising, or writing out, his own cadenza discarding the many printed versions.

It should also be noted that Mr. Sutherland was also the guest of the “Piano Contest Winner,” and an 11-year year-old student, Sage Mace, won the contest with her answers to the question, “What does the piano mean to you?” One of the prizes included meeting Mr. Sutherland at San Rafael’s J-B Piano Emporium, the event hosted by J-B owner Glenn Woodruff.

Mozart’s 41st Symphony in C Major, K. 551 (Jupiter) completed a classic evening. While the orchestra had performed Mozart’s G minor Symphony, No. 40, during the last season, tonight’s performance completed a triptych of masterful symphonies, all composed in 1788. The first movement opened with a theme played with vigorous chords and then was answered with a delicate and soft response from the string section. The conductor and the orchestra were terrific in bringing out just the right balances and intonation was excellent. Woodwind playing was exceptionally rich in this performance, especially in the Andante cantabile slow movement. Mr. Neale showed his appreciation by personally giving each woodwind player a handshake at the end.

The audience, nearly filling the hall, provided a standing ovation following the elegant Mozart performance.