Manchester Camerata
give relatively few old-fashioned concerts these days – I mean the sort that
are done in purpose-built concert halls, with a conductor, soloist and
conventional orchestra strength – because they’re busy crossing boundaries and
attracting new audiences.
But when they do
return to the traditional path, they do it extremely well, and especially when
music director Gábor
Takács-Nagy is in charge. This time, at the Royal Northern College of Music,
there was the additional distinction of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet as soloist in two
Mozart piano concertos. He and they have recorded nos. 17 and 18 already for
Chandos, and this concert was part of the process for their next CD, of nos. 14
and 19. They are combining the concertos with the ‘Salzburg Divertimenti’ which
the extraordinary Wolfgang created at the age of 15 – sometimes played as
string quartets, but sounding fantastic done by a string chamber orchestra of
22 players.
Gábor
Takács-Nagy lavished as much care on the Divertimento
in D (K. 136) as others might on a full-blown symphony. Announcing at the
outset his intention to make his audience smile as they heard the music, he did
the same himself and inspired the musicians to play likewise. There are
delightful contrasts of theme and echo in the writing, and he was alive to them
all (especially the fade-away ending of the repeat of the first part of the opening
movement). The Andante (like a stately sarabande in this performance) had had
each phrase meticulously prepared and showed beauty in every one; the Presto
joyous in its fugal effervescence, zippy in tempo and vital in its contrasts.
The same distinctions
were there in the opening of Piano
Concerto no. 14 (K. 449) – a gentle, feminine second idea clearly
characterized – and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet became an instantly affable partner in the dialogue
that followed his own entry. His playing of the cadenza to the first movement
was impressively flamboyant (an unexpected in some details). The Andantino,
with mutes on, came over like one of those dreamy, hushed, expectant arias we
know from Mozart the opera composer, and the final rondo, skilfully judged in pace
to be a kind of all-breve, Toytown march, had Bavouzet bouncing in and out of
the textures like a pianistic Tigger.
The second part of the
concert was on the same pattern. The Divertimento in F (K. 138) is a
deservedly popular essay in the Nachtmusik style, beginning with a march-along,
serenade-style movement and continuing with another lovely aria-style melody.
The rondo finale, another Presto, was full of life and energy.
Piano concerto no. 19 (K. 459) involved the seven required Camerata
wind players smoothly (we’d had oboes and horns in the previous concerto,
beautifully integrated), and their soloistic qualities came to the fore in
expert style in the first movement. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet injected a sense of mystery to the
fantasy section and made smart work of Mozart’s rather flashy cadenza.
There
was a touch of the wind ‘harmonie’ sound in the lilting Allegretto (very laid
back, almost like a social dance), but still a very sophisticated one, and the
cheeky rondo at the end was an opportunity for the soloist to catch his moments
and toy with them. So much, in fact, that they decided to play it again as an
encore – though not, in the event, quite so brilliantly as the first attempt.
There
may be those who dislike hearing Mozart’s concertos on a modern (Yamaha) piano
and with modern orchestral instruments, but these performances showed that the
classical spirit can be caught every bit as well with small numbers in the band
and a keen sense of style on the part of all concerned.
*****
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