Here is an anthology
of non-symphonic music by Mozart (plus the ‘Toy Symphony’ now
attributed to Mozart père), which makes for an hour’s
enjoyable listening.
While it would be
fair to say that there is nothing especially revelatory about
these performances, what we do get is highly competent, intelligent
musicianship, fully engaged with the music. The orchestral textures
are not too heavy or thick and the recording quality is pretty
good.
The overtures are
played with an apt – but not exaggerated – sense of theatricality.
The adagio opening of the overture to Die Zauberflöte
demands the listener’s attention very effectively while simultaneously
creating a sense of mystery, and the ensuing fugato is both
elegant and exhilarating. Tempos are particularly well judged
here. The same is true of the overture to Le Nozze di Figaro,
creating the illusion of barely controlled haste, of hectic
business. The very opening might perhaps have been quieter?
The D major overture to Idomeneo is played with an appropriately
scaled sense of grandeur, the opening seascape convincingly
painted and an air of regal dignity is given to much of what
follows. In the overture to Don Giovanni Lubbock and
his orchestra do something like justice to the complex and contradictory
emotions present, in anticipation of the opera itself. As the
closing bars move us into the F major of the opening scene it
is frustrating not to find oneself in Donna Anna’s garden! The
military tones of the overture to La Clemenza di Tito
are altogether less complex in their implications – perhaps
they might have been given just a little more punch in places?
The cymbals, drums and triangle do their work well in the overture
to Die Entführung and the results are delightfully, uncomplicatedly
happy. The fine presto overture to Der Schauspieldirektor
captures the spirit of festivity and play, of fun and formality
alike, in delightful fashion, though not without its moments
of pathos (as if momentarily seeing the hollowness behind the
festive mask) and it gets a good performance here. The overture
to Così is an appropriately witty piece; as William Mann
observed, its patterns of “alternation and not-quite-repetition
are appropriate to an opera about couples”. Again, Lubbock and
the Orchestra of St. John’s show themselves to be fine, unmannered
Mozarteans and, once more, one’s only disappointment is that
they build up such a sense of anticipation that one is thoroughly
disappointed when there is no opera to follow!
The Three German
Dances which make up K605, composed in the last year of Mozart’s
life, are amongst the most charming of Mozart’s many contributions
to the genre; the last of the three, "Die Schlittenfahrt", has become particularly famous,
with its use of posthorns and tuned sleighbells in the depiction
of a sleigh-born aristocratic procession. It and its partners
get a thoroughly infectious performance here.
The programme closes
with the ‘Toy Symphony’, long attributed to Joseph Haydn. In
fact, as has now been established, the music (without the toy
instruments) is by Leopold Mozart (three of the movements from
his Cassation in G). Haydn, or perhaps his brother Michael,
may have added the contributions by the rattle, toy drum, cuckoo,
quail etc. The booklet notes by Gerald Norris contain an anecdote
too good not to repeat, concerning a charity performance in
London, towards the end of the nineteenth century: “Sir Charles
Hallé made the journey from Manchester to play the nightingale,
at which he was singularly adept. The cuckoo was entrusted to
Sir Arthur Sullivan. Hallé acquitted himself masterfully, but
Sullivan, for some unaccountable reason, repeatedly played his
two notes the wrong way round. By the end of the performance,
there was hardly a dry eye in the house, and some of the most
helpless laughter came from the depths of the Royal Box”. There
are no reversed cuckoos here, and though hardly likely to reduce
you to helpless laughter, this performance will surely make
you smile.
So, sympathetic
and well-judged modern instrument performances that should disappoint
no one. There are plenty of other compilations of Mozart overtures
and this collection won’t do anything to displace the best of
them. But it is well worth having on one’s shelves.
Glyn Pursglove
BUY NOW
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Orchestra of St.
John’s/John Lubbock 
