Mayr, Mozart, Haydn, Schuster: Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano), Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Paul Dyer (conductor), City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney 03.03.2007 (TP)

 

Mayr, Overture to Sistera

Mozart, Rondo in A Major, K368; Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K467

Haydn, Symphony No. 82 in C Major, 'L'Ours' (The Bear)

Schuster, Overture to Rübezahl

 

Make no mistake. Kristian Bezuidenhout is a major talent.  Sydneysiders who missed his performances with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra should be kicking themselves and each other because opportunities to hear keyboard artistry on this level are too rare to squander.

 

We had to wait until the last item on the programme to hear all that he could do, but Bezuidenhout offered us a teaser in the first half of the concert in the shape of Mozart's Rondo in A Major, K386.  Bezuidenhout contributed a barely perceptible continuo to the opening statements, but when it came time for him to emerge from the orchestral textures, he showed himself to be an incredibly expressive player, able to float a phrase with ease.  His cadenza was wonderful. 

 

The instrument itself is cause for celebration.  It is a replica of Mozart’s own fortepiano, a generous gift to the orchestra from Dr John and Mrs Mary Holt, making only its second appearance in these concerts after its debut last November.  It is a beautiful instrument, visually and aurally, with a light sweetness and a transparency to its tone.

 

Bezuidenhout exploited these qualities when he sat at the keyboard again to close the concert with Mozart’s most famous concerto.  Once again, he provided a light continuo in the tuttis, and clearly had sympathetic collaborators in Paul Dyer and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.  The first movement was energetic and the second was almost breezy, with Dyer refusing to let the andante tempo sag as it so often does and the orchestra playing expressively but without schmalz.  The final movement was full of generous good humour.

 

Bezuidenhout’s phrasing was delicious throughout.  His technique is suited to the lighter touch of the fortepiano keyboard, and he dashed off rapid runs in the outer movements without blinking.  He is also a master of tasteful yet imaginative ornamentation.  His cadenza in the first movement was amazing.  Beginning with fireworks, it withdrew into Schubertian introspection before emerging to call the orchestra back into life.  It was so interesting to listen to his improvising (I am assuming these cadenzas were not pre-prepared, as they certainly seemed to emerge in the moment) that I almost did not want to return to Mozart’s actual writing.  The same sacrilegious thought returned to me during the cadenza of the final movement. Dyer managed the orchestral balances well throughout this performance, never allowing the strings to overwhelm the keyboard and keeping a firm hand on the dynamics generally.

 

There was more on the musical menu than Mozart's keyboard works of course. Thanks to typically innovative programming from the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, this concert brought us two Australian premieres.  The curtain raiser for each half of the concert was a previously unknown Classical overture. 

 

First came Simon Mayr's overture to his oratorio, Sistera, which he wrote when he was 30 years old, two years after Mozart’s death.  There was plenty of energy and buzz to it, and some deft orchestral touches, including an unexpected pizzicato passage from the lower strings.  Was there also a rhythmic reference to the fugal section of Mozart's overture to The Magic Flute? Maybe. Dyer's subtle dynamic control and the orchestra's alert attack polished this little piece to gleaming.  Although Mayr is probably more famous today as Donizetti's teacher than as a composer, on the evidence of this performance, his music is certainly worth hearing.

 

An overture by another forgotten Classical composer, Joseph Schuster, welcomed us back from interval.  The Dresden-born Schuster may have trained in Italy, but the overture to his opera, Rübezahl, sounded very German, complete with galloping strings, emphatic timpani rolls and hunting horn calls.  Proud and martial, it proved an apt foil for the piece that preceded it prior to the interval.

 

That piece, balancing the Mozart piano concerto in the second half of the programme, and also in C Major, was Haydn's Symphony No. 82.  We do not hear nearly enough Haydn in the concert hall, and when we do it tends to be the later London Symphonies (Nos 93-104) that get the nod.  The Paris Symphonies (Nos 82-87) are less lucky, and The Bear in particular rarely comes out of hibernation.  

 

There was no drowsiness in this performance though.  Dyer and the orchestra gave an exuberant reading of this joyful, witty symphony, the period trumpets and horns ringing out and hard sticks giving the timpani a distinctive voice.  Woodwind solos emerged from the orchestra with character, and the phrasing of the strings was delightful.  There were a couple of moments of questionable intonation from the violins, and though Dyer’s control of dynamics and phrasing were admirable, he did not manage to keep the closing chords of the second and third movements entirely together.  Overall, though, this was an enthusiastic and engaging performance of an infrequently heard gem.

 

In sum, an intelligent programme, well played and featuring a brilliant soloist. 

 

A final word on that soloist.  The concert programme listed a few of Kristian Bezuidenhout's upcoming engagements, including two complete cycles of Beethoven's piano concertos: one with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and one with the Kammerakademie Potsdam in Berlin.  If you live anywhere near either of those cities, you should buy your tickets now.

 

Tim Perry