The Swedish Chamber
Orchestra has been extremely busy in the recording studios lately
and not only for Naxos. For Klaus Heymann’s company there are
already four award-winning discs with the complete symphonies
of Joseph Martin Kraus, a trio of Haydn symphonies and Mozart’s
flute concertos with Patrice Gallois. They are also recording
for BIS, Hyperion and the Norwegian Simax label. There’s a complete
Beethoven symphony cycle under their principal conductor Thomas
Dausgaard well on its way.
Now here is a brand
new Mozart disc with the indefatigable Petter Sundkvist conducting.
Long gone are the days when Nordic orchestras were regarded
as second rank provincial bands. The silken string tone, the
unanimity of attack and the rhythmic acuity on this disc are
of a calibre to put even the ASMIF in the shade. Add to this
a recording to match, by Sean Lewis. It’s second best only to
hearing them live in the same venue: so lifelike, detailed and
warm that the disc would be worth buying for those qualities
alone. I played it to my music listening group and they were
swept off their feet.
Of the three works
on the disc the Divertimento in F major, K 247 is by far the
least often heard and recorded, although a Google search reveals
a considerable number of hits. It is also by far the longest,
filling more than half the playing time. It is scored for two
horns and strings and was written for Countess Antonia Lodron’s
name-day, hence the sub-title. It is, as always with Mozart,
well-crafted music and also highly entertaining, the horns lending
an extra air of festivity to most of the movements. But everything
is not only surface and entertainment. The fourth movement,
Adagio, for strings only, is permeated by more than a
hint of melancholy, and the trio of the second Menuetto
is also contemplative, a mood that is retained in the Andante
opening of the finale. When the tempo changes to Allegro
assai all sorrows are swept away, however, and I suppose
Countess Lodron thought it was quite a nice celebration after
all, although I can think that Wolfgang Amadeus was taken to
task for providing songs partly so gloomy. Present-day listeners,
who search for something more than musical wall-paper, should
be grateful, though. Petter Sundkvist finds the right ebb and
flow in the music and the thirty-six minutes pass by in practically
no time at all. I played the music while writing this paragraph
and the music actually ended before the paragraph did, although
I have to admit that I had to stop writing and only listen for
long stretches of it.
The two well-known
serenades are also given their full due, the Serenata notturna,
more a concerto grosso actually, lively and filled with contrasts;
Eine kleine Nachtmusik played with a refinement and care
for phrasing and dynamics that makes it stand out as an even
more sophisticated masterpiece than one has come to believe.
Over-familiarity with a composition eventually makes one forget
to listen, and Petter Sundkvist forces you to open your ears,
saying: “Listen to this! Have you noticed this before?” It could
be argued that he is over-explicit, that he is too sophisticated
in his use of rubato, discreet as it is, and he stresses and
underlines phrases and even single notes, inserting hairpin
accents every now and then, in an almost romantic way. My first
recording of this music, an old EP with Boyd Neel, was altogether
simpler and more straight-forward, but I believe there is more
than one way of interpreting this music. Petter’s way reveals
his deep love and affection for this music. For me it was close
to a revelation to hear it so superbly played, with tempos so
discriminatingly chosen and with phrasing so full of life and
the all-important ebb and flow. Others may react differently,
and I hope my description has made it clear what to expect.
This disc will definitely occupy a place of honour in my collection
and it is a worthy contribution to the celebrations of Mozart
in his 250th year.
Göran Forsling
see also Review
by Christopher Howell
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