Sunday 15th June 2008
Review of this concert by Philip Worth:
This Dacorum Sinfonietta concert provided a journey from Baroque through Classical towards Romantic, satisfying aesthetically as well as chronologically and illustrating once again Director Tom Loten’s impeccable musicianship and programming skills. Time was, some years ago, when DSO supporters were invited to suggest music the orchestra might play, but the realization soon dawned that matters could safely be left in Tom’s experienced hands – and so it has happily continued!
Bearing this in mind your reviewer will, on this occasion, ‘do’ chronological rather than order of performance.
Bach’s Minuet and Badinerie is deservedly a long standing showpiece for flautists, challenging the player’s technique without over-extending it. Perhaps because of this it is often played unaccompanied (but seldom on public occasions) although the Sinfonietta showed how the music’s effect could be enhanced by sensitive string support. Wesley John read the Badinerie with his usual sureness and lightness of touch, giving full expression to its joie de vivre and happy mood; and this mood pervaded his other solo piece, the Andante in C major (K315) by Mozart. The origin of this work is unclear – probably a movement from a flute concerto composed earlier – but no matter; it has great charm and demonstrates Mozart’s mastery and love of music for wind instruments. And nowhere was this more evident than in the first piece performed – the Serenade in E flat for Wind Octet. The composer had no doubt taken in with his mother’s milk the passion among the Austrian gentry of the late 18th century for the small wind ensemble (harmoniemusik), and he would no doubt have been well pleased with the confident attack of the DSO’s impressive wind section.Not to be outdone by the winds the Sinfonietta strings gave us a sprightly and polished rendering of the Divertimento in F major by Mozart – classical perfection! And for the finale the orchestra provided a robust rendering of Beethoven’s Symphony no.1, an interesting work which could easily be mistaken for late Mozart but which, by some strange alchemy, seems to be moving towards Romanticism. And perhaps, on this note, we could be allowed one flight of fancy, and leap the gap between the 1st and the 9th symphonies and hear Schiller’s outburst of joy:
This Dacorum Sinfonietta concert provided a journey from Baroque through Classical towards Romantic, satisfying aesthetically as well as chronologically and illustrating once again Director Tom Loten’s impeccable musicianship and programming skills. Time was, some years ago, when DSO supporters were invited to suggest music the orchestra might play, but the realization soon dawned that matters could safely be left in Tom’s experienced hands – and so it has happily continued!
Bearing this in mind your reviewer will, on this occasion, ‘do’ chronological rather than order of performance.
Bach’s Minuet and Badinerie is deservedly a long standing showpiece for flautists, challenging the player’s technique without over-extending it. Perhaps because of this it is often played unaccompanied (but seldom on public occasions) although the Sinfonietta showed how the music’s effect could be enhanced by sensitive string support. Wesley John read the Badinerie with his usual sureness and lightness of touch, giving full expression to its joie de vivre and happy mood; and this mood pervaded his other solo piece, the Andante in C major (K315) by Mozart. The origin of this work is unclear – probably a movement from a flute concerto composed earlier – but no matter; it has great charm and demonstrates Mozart’s mastery and love of music for wind instruments. And nowhere was this more evident than in the first piece performed – the Serenade in E flat for Wind Octet. The composer had no doubt taken in with his mother’s milk the passion among the Austrian gentry of the late 18th century for the small wind ensemble (harmoniemusik), and he would no doubt have been well pleased with the confident attack of the DSO’s impressive wind section.Not to be outdone by the winds the Sinfonietta strings gave us a sprightly and polished rendering of the Divertimento in F major by Mozart – classical perfection! And for the finale the orchestra provided a robust rendering of Beethoven’s Symphony no.1, an interesting work which could easily be mistaken for late Mozart but which, by some strange alchemy, seems to be moving towards Romanticism. And perhaps, on this note, we could be allowed one flight of fancy, and leap the gap between the 1st and the 9th symphonies and hear Schiller’s outburst of joy:
Joy, beautiful spark of Gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter, fire-imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter, fire-imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.