GETTY

Even when silent, the Getty Museum stands as continuing assurance that
civilization abides. Add music, and the proof becomes indisputable.This summer’s Saturday-night series at the Getty (long since sold out) is,
unsurprisingly, devoted to Mozart, whose music is the perfect match for the
classical decor in the small inner garden where the music is played. But the
fare is hardly garden-variety Mozart. The series is called “The Uncommon
Mozart” and that, judging from last Saturday’s concert, is putting it
mildly.The five concerts, put together by UCLA’s dynamic musicologist Robert Winter,
is arranged more-or-less chronological. Saturday’s program found Mozart in his
late teens, chafing at the provincial life in Salzburg but beginning to
develop his own musical voice. A Divertimento (K. 131 in the complete Mozart
catalog) from 1772, Mozart’s 16th year, was full of the richness of the later
Mozart: harmonic progressions and melodic turns that simply stop the breath,
marvelous effects in an uncommonly large orchestra (strings, solo winds and
four horns). A short Mass (K. 272b) from five years later was, once again, an amazingly rich
score, joyous and profound by turns and with a closing chorus that prophecied
moments in the later operas. And the slashing early G-minor Symphony (K. 183),
the evening’s one familiar work, struck the tragic notes that Mozart would
sound again, and often, in his mature years.Performances couldn’t have been better — not much, anyhow. Gregory Maldonado’s
Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra seems to get better with every hearing. This is
no longer merely a local early-instrument group standing up to the big guys,
but a splendid ensemble that plays with style and real sheen, makes European
tours, and has started to record. There was a little bit of rumpus among the
horns now and then, nothing serious. It could happen anywhere. A small chorus
from the Church of Saint Martin of Tours, led by Tracey Adams, joined forces
with the orchestra in the B-flat Mass. At the end there was wine and cheese and carrot cake alongside the Getty’s
long pool. Who says this isn’t the best of all worlds?