Beethoven, Mozart and Mendelssohn: Viktoria Mullova (violin) Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras (conductor), Queen Elizabeth Hall, 10.5 2007 (GD)

Although the ‘Hebrides’ Overture was once a concert favourite with conductors like Toscanini and Beecham, it is seldom played today. From the beautiful B minor opening theme on celli and violas to the economy of the tempestuous coda Mackerras gauged every structural, textual nuance to perfection. I was particularly impressed, in this overture and in the rest of the programme, in the way that Mackerras can achieve the most lucid orchestral balance; in the tutti passages one could hear clearly all the woodwind detail. Mackerras wisely used antiphonal violins throughout tonight’s programme. Mackerras proves Mahler’s old dictum, ‘there are no bad orchestras, only bad conductors’. I use this quote because I have not been so impressed with the playing of the Philharmonia in some recent concerts. But tonight under Mackerras they played superbly. I was particularly struck by the way Mackerras, throughout, emphasised the contrast between woodwind and strings adding new delights to the antiphonal string effects already mentioned.

Throughout the Beethoven Violin Concerto Mackerras accompanied Mullova with the same nuanced lucidity. Every subtle tonal variation and shift were realised in a way I have rarely experienced in concert. The D sharp, E flat modulations (punctuated by pp strokes on timpani with trumpet) towards the end of the orchestral introduction ‘sounded’ in a way they seldom do. Mackerras wisely did not deploy a ‘romantic size’ orchestra, with just four double-basses situated at the back of the orchestra. Mackerras, like Harnoncourt and Bruggen, knows how to get a modern symphony orchestra to respond to ‘period’ requirements; the woodwind sounding more prominent than usual, and an absolute minimum of vibrato in the strings. Similarly Mullova, on what sounded like a gut stringed instrument, deployed a minimum of vibrato. Surprisingly Mullova was just a little off pitch and strident in some of her opening figurations, but as as the long first movement unfolded she improved all the time. I was expecting her to play Beethoven’s original cadenza with timpani accompaniment, as she has done previously in concert with Eliot Gardiner, but tonight she opted for what sounded like her own cadenza? It wasn’t quite as inventive as the famous Kreisler cadenza, but it worked well.

Mackerras paced the ‘Larghetto’ second movement correctly in a forward moving fashion, emphasizing the antiphonal contrast between strings and winds, which make-up the the theme and variations of the movement. In this and the ‘Rondo: Allegro’ finale Mullova, in absolute accord with Mackerras, responded to every rhythmic/lyrical shift, playing the G minor section with just the right kind of mock-serious (with bassoon) inflection.

Mackerras ended tonight’s programme with one of the most eloquent and satisfying performances of Mozart’s last symphony (incorrectly called the ‘Jupiter’ although the name has stuck) I have heard either in concert or on record.

It is difficult to articulate what it is that makes Mackerras’s Mozart so distinctive; but that is just the point, it never sounds like Mackerras’s Mozart, it sounds like Mozart. Of course, in reality, Mackerras has taken great interpretive care to achieve this, but his ‘interpretation’ never seems to overlay, or intrude on the music. He took the first movement ‘Allegro vivace’ at a real allegro with plenty of vivace, but with exquisite phrasing and articulation of inter-linking themes; the music never sounded rushed or forced, it all unfolded in an absolutely natural ( in the sense of playing what is written in the score) way. The wonderfully veiled F major ‘Andante cantabile’, with later F minor/G minor modulations, was superbly phrased (Mackerras knows how to suspend/float a cantabile phrase or sequence) and more than most conductors he knows and registers the contour of a movement as it relates to the works structural whole. Also Mackerras’s precise understanding of tempo nuance showed in the charming ‘Menuetto: allegretto’, not too fast, but certainly not slow or pompous sounding, with just the right lilt.

Anybody who doubts the importance of antiphonal violin placing should have heard the amazingly elaborate antiphony Mozart achieves in the great five-part final movement, as realised by Mackerras and the orchestra tonight. Mackerras did not find it necessary (as with some conductors) to underline the great contrapuntal miracle which is the coda, by slowing down, or speeding up. The coda emerged inevitably, as it should, from the structure of the whole movement, indeed the whole work. Here all the five-parts intermeshed with total contrapuntal clarity ending with a triumphant flourish on trumpets and timpani. Mackerras observed the first movement exposition repeat and the finale exposition and development section repeat. I think the inclusion of the first repeat in the second movement would have balanced the performance structure better; but really this a mere quibble; who can really complain with music-making of such rare distinction and excellence?