SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Poulenc, Mozart, Mendelssohn: Alison Mitchell (flute), Paul Meyer (conductor), Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Glasgow City Halls, 1.2.2008 (GV)

Poulenc: Sinfonietta
Mozart: Flute Concerto in G K313
Mendelssohn: Symphony No 4 ‘Italian’ (1934 Version)


This evening’s performance was unusually conservative for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Poulenc’s twentieth century neo-classicism had the professional sheen of a film score but offered few surprises, while Mozart and Mendelssohn remained crowd-pleasing and unchallenging. The Italian Symphony was a forceful finale, given vigour and panache, but the overall concert erred on the side of solid competence over dramatic flair.

Poulenc’s Sinfonietta made a delightful introduction. Heavily influenced by Haydn, Poulenc injects a bombastic passion into the recapitulation of melodies that are the only sure signs of the work’s relative modernity. The third movement, Andante cantabile, is eloquent and flowing, and even the wilder Molto vivace constrains its sway to the measure of a gavotte. The SCO clearly mastered the Sinfonietta, emphasising the contrasts with delicate strings and strident wind. Although barely overwhelming, this was a steady, confident opening.

Mozart’s Flute Concerto K313 was the centre-piece of the evening, giving the SCO’s  principal flute the opportunity to shine. Alison Mitchell brought a sparkling coherence and clarity to the solo passages, especially in the first movement Allegro maestoso. Bringing a light, dancing tone to the trills and ornamentation, she captured the precision of Mozart without over-burdening it with melodramatic emotions.

However, the Flute Concerto is not one of Mozart’s most gripping pieces. It falls back on standard themes and patterns: the request of its patron, a Dutch surgeon Ferdinand Dejean that the concerto be ‘easy’ was translated by the composer into ‘straightforward and unchallenging’. Passages of the Allegro maestoso could easily be regarded as typical or emblematic of Mozart’s style, and the only exploration happens in the final movement, when the shapes of the rondo and the minuet gently mesh. The Adagio ma non troppo is magnificently moody but, as Conrad Wilson observed in the programme notes, it is a study of ideas that would come to fruition in the B flat major Wind Serenade.

The SCO seemed less certain of the material. The four cellos disappeared into the murky sound, and the orchestra lacked depth and bite. Meyer looked tentative in his conducting, as if the smaller ensemble lacked confidence. Fortunately, Mitchell’s solos kept them moving along, and the natural gaiety of the final movement gave them the chance to conclude with energy.

Alison Mitchell demonstrated that she deserved her place at the front of the stage, and it is always delightful to hear members of the orchestra stepping forward to become soloists. However, there was a sense that the SCO were coasting here- they are expert in Mozart, and ought to be able to bring something original to a piece as generic as this. Furthermore, they have wrestled with Glass and Adams in the past, and there is no reason why a more adventurous programme would not have been more successful. Poulenc and Mozart together represent a populist, predictable combination.

On the Edinburgh evening of this performance, Mozart made two appearances- the Mendelssohn was replaced by Incidental Music for König Thomas. Fortunately, Glasgow audiences are more robust, and were treated to an intense reading of the Italian Symphony. The most modern piece of the programme, at least musically, it is determinedly romantic, and rousing, pausing only in the second movement Adante con moto, which evokes distance sacred rituals and a passing serenity.

The first movement roars in with fanfares and a punchy rhythm, dance-like and joyous. Three distinct themes battle for dominance, before collapsing back into the ecstatic coda. The orchestra were back on form, the cellos and basses rounding out the mesmerising thrust: the wind was as close to a celebrating rabble as it is possible to be without loosing order and control. The abrupt shift to the Andante was executed with grace, and the religious overtones played subtly, like a mist descending over the ancient towers of a holy city: Mendelssohn clearly uses the monophonic chant of the medieval church to contrast with a more modern tonality, conjuring the sacred past and its continuing tradition.

Yet for all its beauty, this Andante is a mere staging-post, as the third and forth movements- Menuetto: con moto grazioso and Saltarello: Allegro di molto resume their restless drive. The Menuetto is courtly and graceful, but hardly contemplative and bridges the gap between the quietist Andante and the exuberant Saltarello. This finale is an interpretation of a folk dance, swaying drunkenly and clashing against its own counterpoint. Dr Larry Todd points out that the final melody has been identified as a tarantella, another folk dance associated with frantic dancing, and the brief pianissimo in the final bars gives the orchestra a moment’s rest, like the panting of exhausted dancers, before ended with a ferocious attack.

The Italian was a strong ending itself, obscuring the earlier weak ensemble playing and predictable choices. The programme built cleverly, accommodating the weaknesses of Mozart’s Concerto in a framework of easy listening and romantic excitement: the almost sold-out auditorium gave a generous ovation. More of a holding motion that a stride forward, this concert consolidated the SCO’s competence and popularity.

Gareth Vile

Back to Top                                                    Cumulative Index Page