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Beethoven and Schumann: London Mozart Players, Alexander Shelley, Chloe Hanslip, Cheltenham Town Hall, 4.11.08 (RJ)

For once the LMP forsook their usual stamping grounds to venture into the nineteenth century and embrace the Romanticism of Schumann. Leading them on was the youthful Alexander Shelley, winner of the 2005 Leeds Conductors' Competition.

From the energy he expended on the first item, it was clear that Mr Shelley regarded Beethoven's Corialan Overture as much more than a warm up exercise for the orchestra. His jerky emphatic gestures with his left arm caused me to fear he might dislocate his shoulder if he continued in this vein. Yet the result was very satisfactory - an arresting performance which brought to life the overbearing Roman general whose pride and obstinacy led to his downfall.

An acquaintance of mine is very dismissive off Schumann's Violin Concerto in D minor which followed. "When you hear it, you'll realise why it languished in obscurity for 80 years after Schumann's death," he warned. And, of course, conventional wisdom has it that that the composer wrote nothing of merit in his final years as his mind became unbalanced.

Yet this performance proved the doomsayers wrong. After a strong orchestral opening, the young violinist Chloe Hanslip swept into action playing with panache, sincerity and conviction and taking the virtuosic flourishes in her stride. Clearly no-one had briefed her that this is a "deeply flawed" work!

The slow movement had a melancholic charm and the lovely solo playing floated above the unobtrusive support of the orchestra. The finale was a bright, rhythmical polonaise - not serious enough perhaps for  Schumann's detractors? - but good enough for me. The musicians captured beautifully the sunny nature of the music - the conductor appeared to dance his way through it - and there was more breathtaking playing from Miss Hanslip.

More Schumann was featured - his Overture, Scherzo and Finale, which almost qualifies as a symphony. Conducting from memory Alexander Shelley coaxed some lively, crisp playing from the LMP and seemed to take especial delight in the rollicking scherzo. The finale put paid to any idea that Schumann's music is shapeless. It is actually full of ideas and subjected to the disciplines of classical form as this excellent performance revealed.

I feared that the three dozen or so musicians of the LMP might be overreaching themselves in including a Beethoven symphony on their programme. However the Eighth is actually very much their kind of music, since it does not require the large forces of his other later works and harks back in spirit to the 18th century.

The Players were in their element. Mr Shelley set them a brisk pace but this was not at the expense of the clarity which is their hallmark. The woodwind had a chance to shine in the Allegretto, and shine they did. This work abounds in humour; inserting an archaic sounding minuet where the scherzo should be is just one example. The fun and frivolity spilled over into the finale with its unexpected pauses and changes of mood and brought the concert to a triumphant close.

This evening of Schumann and Beethoven proved a more rewarding experience than I could have imagined - and I welcome the initiative of Alexander Shelley, Chloe Hanslip and the LMP themselves in bringing to life neglected works of the past which often contain nuggets of real gold.

Roger Jones


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