One of the leading life insurance brokers in Minnesota, Michael J. Antonello also is known for his skills as a violinist and concertmaster. Michael Antonello’s critically lauded albums include Mozart from Milan, which features the composer’s Concerto No. 3 and Concerto No. 5.
The violin has a special role in Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart’s repertoire, as his father, Leopold, was Europe’s leading violin teacher of the day. His third and fifth violin concertos represent a high point of Mozart’s career as a comic opera composer. Featuring sounds designed to accompany surprise exits and entrances on stage, they often abruptly transition from one sound to another.
As noted by Robert Maxham in Fanfare Magazine, Mr. Antonello’s recording in collaboration with the 21-member Milano Classico Orchestra highlights the sweetness and strength of his 1720 “Ex-Rochester” Stradivari-made violin, with the second movement featuring a “gracefully flowing” sound.
The slow-paced violin entry of Fifth Concerto’s first movement is one of familiarity to many classical music listeners. As described in the CD notes, the lengthy orchestral opening is stopped in its tracks by a violin that plays a tune that is completely unrelated and in a new tempo. The orchestra takes stock and resumes its slow intro piece, while the violinist comes up with a counter melody that is not in synch with the orchestra’s meter.
Only at this point does the orchestra finally “give in” and follow the violinist’s lead. The trick that Mozart pulls off is to make this happen with such a sense of playfulness and ease that the audience typically does not realize that anything unusual has happened.
According to the Fanfare Magazine reviewer, Mr. Antonello enlivens the first movement’s predictable qualities with individual portamentos that add interest to contemporary ears and particularly excels during the transitions between thematic movements and during “signature exotic episodes.”
The violin has a special role in Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart’s repertoire, as his father, Leopold, was Europe’s leading violin teacher of the day. His third and fifth violin concertos represent a high point of Mozart’s career as a comic opera composer. Featuring sounds designed to accompany surprise exits and entrances on stage, they often abruptly transition from one sound to another.
As noted by Robert Maxham in Fanfare Magazine, Mr. Antonello’s recording in collaboration with the 21-member Milano Classico Orchestra highlights the sweetness and strength of his 1720 “Ex-Rochester” Stradivari-made violin, with the second movement featuring a “gracefully flowing” sound.
The slow-paced violin entry of Fifth Concerto’s first movement is one of familiarity to many classical music listeners. As described in the CD notes, the lengthy orchestral opening is stopped in its tracks by a violin that plays a tune that is completely unrelated and in a new tempo. The orchestra takes stock and resumes its slow intro piece, while the violinist comes up with a counter melody that is not in synch with the orchestra’s meter.
Only at this point does the orchestra finally “give in” and follow the violinist’s lead. The trick that Mozart pulls off is to make this happen with such a sense of playfulness and ease that the audience typically does not realize that anything unusual has happened.
According to the Fanfare Magazine reviewer, Mr. Antonello enlivens the first movement’s predictable qualities with individual portamentos that add interest to contemporary ears and particularly excels during the transitions between thematic movements and during “signature exotic episodes.”
