LONDON MOZART PLAYERS

LONDON MOZART PLAYERS

M&G Concert at the Civic Theatre

26.10.2014

The first of this season's Civic Concerts featured two works inspired by the seasons.

First, Piazzolla's Cuatro Estanciones Porteñas – four contrasting Tango-flavoured movements depicting the seasons in Buenos Aires. Originally a piano work, this version, by Leonid Desyatnikov, brings it closer to Vivaldi, in a virtuosic violin concert. Brilliantly played by the LMP and Tasmin Little, with a lovely cantabile cello theme for Autumn from Sebastian Comberti.

Roxanna Panufnik's World Seasons borrows ideas and idioms from various musical cultures, without ever imitating. Autumn in Albania is a punchy, rhythmic dance movement, with a poignant love song following the cadenza. Tibetan Winter, complete with singing bowl [Comberti again], is hauntingly ethereal, and Indian Summer is sultry, smoky with a blazingly intense finale, redolent of the Holi Festival of Colours.

These two alternative almanachs were bookended by familiar favourites for string orchestra: Tchaikowsky's lively, lilting Serenade, directed from the leader's chair by Tasmin Little, relishing the rich sonorities of the writing, and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, with leader Simon Blendis directing. Hard to bring anything fresh to the Mozart, you might think, but this was an enjoyably crisp, brisk reading, enhanced by the clear acoustic of the Civic Theatre.

SINFONIA VIVA

SINFONIA VIVA

M&G Concert at the Civic Theatre

03.02.13

Two phenomenal young talents in this month's M&G concert, which programmed a clutch of familiar masterpieces.

Tine Thing Helseth was the soloist in Haydn's trumpet concerto. At 25, she is much in demand internationally as well as in her native Norway. Her performance was impassioned and direct – her legato phrasing, attacking the notes from the middle, was impressive, as was the soulful cadenza. The Allegro finale, taken at a sprightly tempo, brought the best out of soloist and ensemble.

The conductor was 23 year old Duncan Ward, who already has a wealth of experience. He clearly enjoys making music, and his infectious enthusiasm, combined with remarkable interpretive skills and a fluent conducting style, made for a very enjoyable programme, beginning with the Fifth Symphony of the even more youthful Franz Schubert, directed with great panache from the effervescent opening to the dance-like Vivace finale.

More toe-tapping in the Bartok Romanian Folk Dances, played with enormous gusto and excellent solo work from the Sinfonia's leader Nic Fallowfield.

The evening ended with Mozart's last symphony, the Jupiter, swaggering through the opening Allegro, and with a nice steady footfall in the Andante Cantabile.

The next Civic Concert, in April, brings us another outstanding trumpeter, Crispian Steele-Perkins with the European Union Chamber Orchestra.

A very enjoyable concert, if a little on the safe side. The Bartok the only roughage, and nothing from the hundred years since then. We did have an introduction where both these musicians chatted engagingly, but nothing like the After Hours bonus concert they're playing in Nottingham, with pieces by James McMillian and Arvo Pärt ...

LONDON MOZART PLAYERS

M&G CIVIC CONCERT

London Mozart Players at the Civic Theatre

18.11.12

A very popular concert to start the season, with a programme of favourites and one of this country's finest pianists at the helm.

Directing from the Japanese piano, Howard Shelley gave a bright, lively performance of the familiar Grieg concerto. As he points out, it's easier to keep this repertoire fresh if you're conducting as well as playing, and there was certainly no hint of staleness here: an imposing opening, followed by a jaunty development and a very rich cadenza. The instrumental introduction to the Adagio was played with a beautifully blended orchestral palette, the piano entry finely judged.

Before the Grieg we heard Mozart's Don Giovanni Overture, performed with very positive attack and dramatic urgency. And after it, the celebratory euphoria of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Pleasing to hear the various voices so distinctly; the playful Vivace followed by an energetic Allegretto, with a thrillingly muscular Allegro con Brio to finish.

A bonus was the informative, and witty, pre-concert talk, including Spohr's reminiscence of playing the Symphony under Beethoven's baton, and Mozart writing his overture the night before the performance, kept going by pots of ale and the gossip of friends.

The next concert, in February, features Sinfonia Viva in Schubert, Haydn and Mozart.

ENGLISH SINFONIA

M&G Concert at the Civic Theatre

28.02.10

220 words

John Adams' Shaker Loops is one of his best-known pieces – a prime example of his minimalist style which paved the way for popularisers like Michael Nyman.

English Sinfonia's lambent account, conducted by their artistic advisor Geoffrey Alexander, was the first I have heard in live performance. I was struck by the way the various “voices” detached themselves from the trills and tremolos, progressing through the sixteen players, as the excitement of Shaking and Trembling led to the slow burn of Loops and Verses, with its low cello melody.

The Loops of the title are tape-looped repetitions, the Shakers are not only the trilling strings, but also the religious group that gave the US simple hymns and simple furniture.

This is very much an American piece, and it was followed, in a programme devoted to shorter works, by the English pastoral miniatures of Holst's Brook Green Street, the deep Scandinavian resonances of Sibelius's Romance in C, and the Slavic charm of Suk's Serenade, featuring the lyrical violin of English Sinfonia's director Janice Graham, and, as in the Adams, cellist Julia Graham.

The concert began with two contrasting chamber works by Mozart,a Divertimento for Strings, and an Adagio and Fugue, originally a piece for two pianos.

A combination of imaginative programming and impressive ensemble made this a welcome return visit by English Sinfonia.