Bridgehampton Chamber Plays Mozart with Assist from Alan Alda

[caption id="attachment_53866" align="alignnone" width="800"] The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival will kick off its 33rd year this weekend.[/caption]

By Michelle Trauring

One late night in 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was hanging out with some friends—just as any 21st-century musician might do—when they played “a little quartet amongst themselves.”

It was a night the prolific composer and virtuoso pianist described in one of his letters, and a piece of music that would go on to become “one of the most sublime pieces of chamber music he wrote,” according to Marya Martin, co-founder and artistic director of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, which kicks off its 33rd year this weekend with “ Mozart: A Portrait in Music and Words,” narrated by Alan Alda.

“This is the last piece in the program, the ‘Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 493,’” Ms. Martin explained in a recent email, and added, “Many of these are letters that Mozart wrote to his parents, wife, sister, friends, so they are very intimate and personal, talking about music he has heard, the state of his health, money troubles, his thoughts on death and, of course, love.”

[caption id="attachment_53882" align="alignright" width="532"] Alan Alda will narrate this weekend's performance of “ Mozart: A Portrait in Music and Words” at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival.[/caption]

It was the letters that shaped the two opening concert programs, the first of which has already sold out, and the source material for Mr. Alda’s live narration. He researched the letters himself, starting with those that mention the works specifically, and then delved into more of the letters from each period of Mozart’s life. They helped him understand the composer’s state of mind before weaving the letters into a script.

“You get a picture in Mozart’s own words of who he is and what he’s like, and then you hear what he composed right around the time he wrote the letters you’ve just listened to,” he said in a statement. “It’s like a double whammy. You’re hearing his joy or his disappointment or his frustration, and then you hear the music he was making at that same moment. It’s an experience that you don’t usually get at a concert.”

Each piece represents a different period in Mozart’s life, Ms. Martin explained. His childhood can be heard in “Sonata in A major for Piano and Flute, K. 12,” composed in 1764; his late teen years in “Flute Quartet in D major, K. 285,” in 1777; and finally his adulthood in the aforementioned quartet, as well as “Piano Trio in C major, K.548,” in 1788, written just three years before he died in 1791 at age 35, a virtually penniless prodigy who would become one of the world’s most beloved musicians only after his death.

“I just love being in Mozart’s presence,” Mr. Alda said. “The best surprise for me is not only reading his words, but then sitting among the musicians while they make music. To be among them while they do it is an extraordinary thing. It hits you right in the chest.”

Joining Ms. Martin on flute for the Mozart program are violinist Kristin Lee, Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu on viola, cellist Raman Ramakrishnan and pianist Jon Kimura Parker. The starting point is always the group of musicians, Ms. Martin said, and she imagines what she would love to hear them perform.

“This year, though, I did think that we should make a point of programming more Mozart, as we hadn’t focused on him much in recent years,” she said. “Mozart was simply one of the geniuses of all time. He infused his music with humor and depth of feeling that communicates itself directly with the listener in ways that just grab you. Even after years of playing his music, I find that it has the power to continually surprise me.”
The 33rd annual Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival will kick off its 13-concert season with “Mozart: A Portrait in Music and Words,” narrated by Alan Alda, on Sunday, July 31, (sold out) and Monday, August 1, at 6:30 p.m. at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church. Additional concerts will continue through the end of August. For a full schedule, tickets and more information, visit bcmf.org.