“Amadeus Live” performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra was Bravissimo!
–by Tom Schmidt
–photos by Jon Gitchoff
I will admit from the start that I saw Amadeus when it first came out in movie theaters and many times through the years since. I love and adore this movie, and I have to admit I was excited when given the opportunity to review the St. Louis Symphony performing the musical soundtrack live on Saturday night at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center at Powell Hall in Saint Louis.
I have had a few opportunities to review other movies that the symphony has performed and one of the big questions that I had was whether the vocal parts would be kept on the soundtrack or whether they would have the chorus provide the sung parts. When they performed The Lion King, for example, they kept the original artists from the soundtrack. Stéphane Denève, the Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, was the conductor for Amadeus. He asked the audience if there was anyone who had never seen the movie in attendance. A good number raised their hands. As he assured them that they would enjoy this movie he stated he loved it as well.
Taking my seat, I saw the Chorus behind the orchestra. I was delighted to know that the vocal music would be sung live. I could not imagine how they would not perform this concert, with primarily Mozart’s music, without the chorus. There were parts of the movie where the instruments were not used. This seemed to be primarily with music using the period instruments in the movie, such as the pianoforte. I was unsure if the chorus sang part of Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” near the beginning of the movie, then I noticed, after the movie was over, a synthesizer on stage. (Perhaps this was used for the organ in that work.) Though I do believe it was also used as the celesta later when they were performing “Die Zauberflöte” (The Magic Flute) as I did not see this on the stage either.
The audience had a great time with the movie getting many laughs throughout. The balance of the orchestra with the chorus and speaking on the soundtrack was perfect. For the most part, Maestro Denève was spot on with the soundtrack. I noticed one part in the movie where it was off, and this was because Salieri was conducting the Final to his opera “Axur” and was mouthing the words and it didn’t quite match up with the orchestra and chorus on stage. But other than that one hiccup, it was flawless. Denève encouraged everyone to stay through the credits (which I was hoping they would play in its entirety) because they played the entire 2nd movement of the “Piano Concerto in D Minor”.
The performance and balance were so good that, at times, it was easy to forget that the musicians were performing live on stage. One part I was anxiously awaiting was how they would perform the music when Mozart’s wife Constanze brought drafts of Wolfgang’s music to Salieri to look at for a possible teaching. As Salieri was leafing through the music, the orchestra played each of the pieces, but because of how Salieri turned the pages in rapid succession, phrases weren’t completed and totally different styles and instrumentations were on the page. The orchestra did a phenomenal job shifting gears so quickly.
Overall, the performance was outstanding by both the orchestra and chorus. Stéphane Denève had fun directing this and did a fabulous job holding these groups together. What a wonderful and entertaining evening. Well done. Bravissimo!