Wolfgang Amadeus (or perhaps more accurately Amadé) Mozart (1756 - 1791) is not a composer that I would list amongst my favourites. I acknowledge his flair and talent, and happen to quite like a few of his melodies, but that's about all. Rightly or wrongly, Mozart has been, and continues to be, hailed as one of the greatest composers ever, studied at schools worldwide, and lauded as a genius. Why then, am I so seemingly negative about such an obvious prodigy? Perhaps there are many reasons. One being that his works are so full of his own self-importance and brilliance that for me, it is difficult to see past that, and enjoy the delightful tunes which appear, obfuscated by decoration. [perhaps Salieri was right...."too many notes!"]. Perhaps another reason is that much of his music has been 'done to death', and after a while it all - forgive me for saying this - sounds very samey!
However, here I was, at Manchester's Stoller Hall, to listen to The Manchester Camerata perform a whole evening of music dedicated to Mozart, and so I dediced that I should (paraphrasing Gabor Takacs-Nagy's introduction), "listen to it like it's the first time in my life and I've never heard the music before". I was, afterall, standing in this evening for my fellow reviewer who sadly couldn't make it himself.
Gabor Takacs-Nagy is a wonderful conductor; I enjoy watching him. His passion, energy, and control over the instrumentalists is just lovely to watch; whilst he always addresses the audience beforehand to introduce the piece etc, and his information is always pertinent and somehow also slightly amusing too. Such an enthusiatic and generous conductor. Tonight's pianist for both piano concertos, was again, a soloist I have had the pleasure of seeing perform live before, and greatly enjoyed his playing and talent both then and again this evening. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet made some of the extended runs of passing notes and decoration in the pieces this evening feel effortless and easy. Always managing to keep the piano light, his effulgent and ebullient playing - and that's not to say there wasn't depth and passion there too, for there was in abundance - was very much in-keeping with the style and genre of the music, and one could almost imagine Mozart himself seated at the keyboard finishing every phrase with a satisfied flourish.
The Camerata started with Mozart's overture to 'The Marriage Of Figaro', and this was then followed by the first of the two piano concertos this evening, Concerto no 24 (K491). After the interval, and before the final piece, Concerto no 25 (K503), we were treated to something a little bit special. We heard the overture to the theatre-piece, 'Erwin And Elmire', by German composer Duchess Anna Amalia von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach. Born a Princess in 1739, this music was composed in 1776, and this evening it was receiving it's UK Premiere!
Mozart's piano concerto no 25 was a great choice to finish the concert. The concerto has been given the title "La Marseillaise" for good reason, as in the first movement, Mozart unabashedly uses the opening theme of this famous French national anthem, giving each orchestral part something to say about the melody. However, it is in the piano soloist's cadenza where it truly comes into its own, and this evening Bavouzet made no apology whatsoever when he created his own variation of the tune in the cadenza. Bravo! It must have been a firm favourite with Manchester Camerata too, as I have never heard them sound better.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 25.3.22
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 25.3.22
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