Overture Magazine 2019-20 BSO_Overture_Jan Feb | Page 16

MOVIE WITH ORCHESTRA: AMADEUS “ONE OF THE BEST PERFORMANCES I HEARD THIS YEAR.” —The Baltimore Sun SUNDAYS @ 5:30PM GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY! MIDORI VIOLIN JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET PIANO All-Beethoven Jan 26 LIMITED AVAILABILITY LAWRENCE BROWNLEE TENOR MYRA HUANG PIANO Works by Schumann, Tyshawn Sorey Feb 23 TABEA ZIMMERMANN VIOLA JAVIER PERIANES PIANO Works by Schubert, Brahms, Falla, Albéniz, Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla Mar 15 INON BARNATAN, PIANO Works by Mendelssohn, Thomas Adès, Gershwin, Gershwin/Wild, Schubert May 3 GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY! SHRIVERCONCERTS.ORG 410.516.7164 14 OV E R T U R E / BSOmusic.org music-based stories. But without the backing of independent producer Saul Zaentz (One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The English Patient), who was willing to take box office risks, he never could have created a nearly three-hour movie about classical music set in lavish period style. Forman chose to return to his native Prague to shoot Amadeus because he knew the Czech city had retained much of the 18 th -century appearance that bomb-damaged Vienna no longer had. A particularly brilliant choice was the use of Prague’s old Tyl Theater with its carefully preserved 18 th -century décor to stage the movie’s many opera scenes. Mozart, who loved Prague, premiered his opera Don Giovanni in 1787 in that very theater. Amadeus’ visual impact was intensified by sumptuous costumes and powdered wigs that frequently favored a contemporary, over-the-top edge rather than period correctness. Significantly, though the real Mozart did indeed spend too much money on his silk jackets and ruffled shirts, Tom Hulse’s Mozart sports outrageous costumes and wild, pastel-pink wigs more suited to a punk rocker than a proper Viennese courtier. As film critic Roger Ebert wrote: “The movie’s success is partly explained, I think, by its strategy of not portraying Mozart as a paragon whose greatness is a burden to us all, but as a goofy proto-hippie with a high-pitched giggle, an over-fondness for drink and a buxom wife who likes to chase him on all fours.” Mozart’s braying, childish laugh becomes the ultimate insult to Salieri’s beliefs and sense of self worth. Amadeus swept the 1985 Oscars, winning eight of them, including Best Picture, Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham as Salieri), Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. In 1998, the American Film Institute included it in its listing of the 100 greatest films of the 20 th century. Amadeus’ Musical Score Virtually as successful was Amadeus’ soundtrack album featuring a generous and extremely well-chosen selection of Mozart’s music, including symphonies, operas, piano concertos, chamber music and—most powerful of all—extended portions of the Requiem, left unfinished at his death. The winner of the 1985 Grammy Award for Best Classical Album, it became a staple in millions of record collections throughout the world—and not just those of classical-music lovers. The musical numbers were selected by the film’s musical advisor Sir Neville Marriner in consultation with Forman and Schaffer. Forman launches his film unforgettably with the first movement of Mozart’s ferocious Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, composed when he was only in his early twenties. This adds palpable terror to the opening nocturnal scene, during which the aged Salieri is discovered to have attempted suicide and is rushed to a hospital in Vienna. Another important musical scene is Salieri’s first experience of Mozart’s music as he watches the impudent young man conducting his beautiful serenade for 13 instruments, the Gran Partita in B-flat, at his first court appearance, then hastily peruses the score on the music stand before Mozart insolently sweeps it away. “This was music I’d never heard before,” remembers Salieri. “It seemed to me the voice of God.” Salieri’s expert commentary enables us to examine more closely what makes this music so extraordinary. Forman creates entertaining staging of many scenes—somewhat based on period stage practices—from Mozart’s operas, including The Abduction from the Seraglio, The Marriage of Figaro (focus of much controversy among Emperor Joseph II and his courtiers), Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. Particularly emphasized is