No composer in history was more versatile than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who wrote in just about every form imaginable.
The Colorado Symphony offered a glimpse at his vast range Friday evening with a well-rounded program that drew from his exploits in opera, choral music and orchestral music.
The evening’s marquee work was Mozart’s transcendent Requiem in D minor, K. 626, which the composer, despite his last fervid efforts, famously left unfinished at the time of his death at the all-too-young age of 35.
Several scholars have made attempts at improving on the original, less-than-satisfying (and most frequently heard) completion of the score by his student, Franz Süssmayr.
For this concert, the symphony employed for the first time a 1994 version by Harvard University musicologist Robert Levin, and it came together as a largely cohesive and pleasing whole.
Bernard Labadie, music director of Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Quebec in Canada, has become a regular — and always welcome — guest conductor in Denver. The well-regarded maestro brought his usual impeccable care to this performance, infusing it with compelling drama and urgency.
He was aided in his efforts by four unusually strong, well- matched soloists — soprano Shannon Mercer, mezzo-soprano Anita Krause, tenor James Taylor and bass Jeremy Galyon — and the typically well-prepared Colorado Symphony Chorus.
The program opened with light, spirited and unhurried take on the Overture to the composer’s beloved opera, “The Magic Flute,” K. 620, and continued with the Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314.
The symphony last performed the latter work in 1994 with Peter Cooper, just a year into his job as principal oboist, as the soloist. Now a dependable, veteran member of the orchestra, he was back Friday in the same role.
The only blot on Cooper’s otherwise secure if somewhat sedate interpretation came in the slow movement, which dragged at times. But the audience clearly liked what it heard, giving the oboist an enthusiastic standing ovation.
The concert will be repeated at 7:30 p.m. today and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
