Columbus Symphony ends season with sacred notes

This weekend, the Columbus Symphony is to end its season on notes reverent, majestic and, above all, sacred.

For its season-finale concerts, the symphony performs the “Mass in C minor” byWolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Performances are to take place May 24-25 in the OhioTheatre.

The work is made up of Mozart’s settings of liturgical elements likely to be familiar toanyone who has attended a Roman Catholic Mass, including the Kyrie, Gloria inexcelsis, Sanctus and Benedictus.

However, Mozart never finalized his work on the piece. To fill in sections that lack music by Mozart, modern symphonies rely on musicologists who work in the manner of Mozart’s style.

Columbus Symphony Music Director Rossen Milanov recently discussed the work andits significance with The Dispatch.

Why was Mozart’s Mass chosen as the season finale?

In part, Milanov made the decision due to the magnitude of the piece: In addition to the symphony, the Mass is to feature the Columbus Symphony Chorus and four guest vocal soloists.

“I try to finish always with sort of the biggest piece, the piece that involves everybodyfrom the CSO family, the chorus being one of them,” said Milanov, who was also drawn to the work because of its relative scarcity in the symphony’s repertoire: The “Mass in C minor” has not been performed by the symphony since March 2003.

“It will be the first performance in a generation,” he said.

Who are the vocal soloists?

Joining the symphony and chorus will be soprano Aubry Ballarò, mezzo-soprano HilaryGinther, tenor David Walton and bass James Eder.

What language is the piece performed in?

The Mass is to be sung in Latin, which is the language that had been used in the Roman Catholic Mass for centuries. The language is unlikely to pose a challenge for the choral singers or vocal soloists, all likely to be familiar with sacred works from that era.

“You learn them over the years,” Milanov said. “Whether you do (Mozart’s) ‘Requiem’ or whether you do the Rossini ‘Mass’ or a Beethoven ‘Mass,’... it’s all the same text.”

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What version will the symphony perform?

Because of its unfinished nature, the symphony is to make use of a 2019 editionprepared by German scholar Ulrich Leisinger, who added music omitted by Mozart.

“The edition that came just a few years ago (by Leisinger) is the one that is, to myknowledge, the most satisfactory completion of the work,” Milanov said. “You could not really tell (that the work is incomplete).”

Milanov noted that this version of the piece, in this form, could be performed in concert halls or in sacred settings.

“If somebody wants to do it as part of a church service, they could also use it that way,” he said.

What should audiences expect?

“If you have never heard it, it will create an incredible impression on you,” said Milanov, who can point to passages he finds particularly powerful.

“The one that always comes to your attention is ‘Et incarnatus est,’” Milanov said. “(Mozart) was thinking about the body of Christ, and that (section) is given to the highsoprano with a beautiful trio of woodwind instruments in the background. It’s sort of like the Holy Trinity is enveloping the entire idea of the music.”

At a glance

The Columbus Symphony and Chorus will perform Mozart’s “Mass in C minor” at 7:30p.m. May 24-25 in the Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St.

Tickets start at $30.50. For more information, go to columbussymphony.com.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Symphony brings majestic and sacred notes to season finale