Review: Alina Ibragimova performs Mozart violin concerto with SPCO

Is this a good time for comedy?

I would argue that it is. If you surrender to fear and dread because of the hostility and violence that’s been visited upon Minnesota, that’s bad for both your heart and head. I would recommend that you seek out a reason to laugh.

Such as this weekend’s St. Paul Chamber Orchestra concerts. You may not think of a classical concert as your best destination for bringing some laughter into your life, but the SPCO has programmed some music that definitely could lift your mood. Whether from the 18th or 20th centuries, the compositions presented find lightness and levity, even amid some occasionally troubled tones.

Alina Ibragimova is the key catalyst in this successful quest to combine frivolity and depth. The Russia-born, England-based violinist is the soloist for Mozart’s Third Violin Concerto, is among two soloists for Alfred Schnittke’s “Moz-Art a la Haydn,” and is leading Joseph Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony from the concertmaster’s chair. At Jan. 16’s midday concert at St. Paul’s Ordway Concert Hall, she brought a consummate combination of exquisite technique and interpretive imagination to every note she played, helping spark a splendidly rewarding performance.

It’s a well-constructed program, following an arc that opens and closes in literal darkness, the hall’s lights extinguished before the first notes are played. The Schnittke piece mixes blithe playfulness with dissonant chaos, snatching phrases from works by Mozart and Haydn and blending in some comical theatricality.

But the best reason to catch these concerts is to experience what Ibragimova brings to the Mozart concerto. She and the orchestra employed engaging dynamic contrast, smoothly transitioning back and forth between the aggressive and delicate. Yes, there’s a lighthearted air to this Mozart confection, but Ibragimova also found the yearning and uncertainty hiding within its phrases.

And each of her cadenzas was captivating, the first movement featuring a fiery flurry of notes, fingers flying, her bow a blur, while the slow second movement felt like an urgent whisper, a kind of quiet plea.

While Haydn’s 45th Symphony, known as the “Farewell,” is best known for its concluding joke, it begins in a stormy place, and Ibragimova and the SPCO captured its tumultuous spirit brilliantly, flights of fury giving way to intimate interludes before raging forth again. The adagio possessed just the right tinge of sadness and resignation, and the minuet was expertly executed.

But it’s the contemplative coda at the finale’s end that gave the symphony its nickname, as Haydn instructs the orchestra to deconstruct itself, musicians departing the stage one by one. Haydn designed it as an act of rebellion against his royal employer’s relentless demands — his musicians were overdue for some vacation — and the joke successfully made its point.

After the final notes were delivered in the dimming light on Friday, the appreciative audience no doubt headed out into the snowy afternoon feeling that their troubled spirits had been raised, and that art and beauty can outlast the worst of troubles.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

With: Violinist Alina Ibragimova

When: 7 p.m. Jan. 16 and 17

Where: Ordway Concert Hall, 345 Washington St., St. Paul