Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Mozart Flute Concerto
City Halls, Glasgow - 17/02/23
The damp breezy night of Friday 17th saw the Scottish Chamber Orchestra return to the City Halls, Glasgow, with a third outing of an imaginatively constructed symphony concert programme sans symphony, played on modern instruments under the baton of Portuguese guest conductor Joana Carneiro. The orchestra’s principal flautist, André Cebrián, stepped forward for the headline work, Mozart’s delightful Flute Concerto No.2 in D major. More Mozart, the overture and the first four numbers of the ballet music from ‘Idomeneo’, closed the programme. 20th-century works opened both halves of the concert, Debussy’s ‘Children’s Corner’ of 1908 and, after the interval, Stravinsky’s ‘Danses Concertantes’ of 1942. The concert was moderately well-attended and the programme was introduced by principal trumpeter Peter Franks.
The Debussy, originally a set of 6 piano pieces depicting the favourite toys of the composer’s toddler daughter, later orchestrated by the composer’s friend Caplet, evokes a toy piano, a cuddly elephant, a porcelain doll, a snow globe and a little shepherd boy. The final piece now appears titled simply ‘Cakewalk’, though for nigh on the first century of its place in the repertoire and at least the first four decades of my life as a listener, the ragtime strutting dance was associated with the unsanitised name of a cloth doll depicting a black-and-white ‘minstrel’. All 6 pieces were characterfully performed, giving the fullest expression to the composer’s affection and whimsy in equal measure. Joana Carneiro’s conducting style is remarkable and a sight to behold: the hands certainly communicate the beat with clarity and precision, but her whole-body movements are elegant, sinuous and balletic and convey to players and audience alike a wealth of subtle information about the shaping of phrasing and dynamic balance. Live performance always offers a visual element to our aural experience, but it is special indeed when the two not merely complement but augment each other so magnificently. Our wonderful SCO responded, as they invariably do to guest conductors, with world-class playing.
It is also invariably special when an SCO principal steps forward to a solo role in front of their colleagues and André Cebrián upheld this tradition with distinction. The Allegro aperto featured elegant musical conversation between solo flute and sections of the orchestra, with lovely shaping of mutually responsive phrasing. The dynamic balance was excellent, with delicacy delivered where needed. The cadenza was amazing with fabulous chromatic runs. The dialogue and cadenza again both shone in the Adagio non troppo. The Rondeau finale featured nice ornamentation in the agile episodes, teasing cheeky rubato in the ritornelli, and another dazzling cadenza. The cheering Glasgow audience was not going to let André away without an encore, so leader Joel Bardolet, principal violist Oscar Holch and principal cellist Su-a Lee joined him pizzicato in the delicious slow movement of Mozart’s Flute Quartet in D Major K.285 (often called No.1). The SCO never fail to emphasise the chamber music element in performance, but this went above and beyond – quite superb.
After the interval, Stravinsky’s ‘Danses Concertantes’ is a 5-movement suite for small ensemble in his neo-classical vein, yet couched in his quirky musical language, with unusual tonal combinations, irregular metre and unconventional harmonies. The Marche which opens and closes the work features swaggering syncopation and some writing for solo violin which puts me in mind of L’Histoire du soldat of a quarter century before. The other dances comprise a Pas d’action, a theme and variations, and a Pas de deux. All received virtuosic and characterful playing.
Now I had better confess to never having been, nor ever likely to be, a fan of ‘Idomeneo’. If I seek an opera seria experience, I gravitate to the masterpieces of Handel, not Mozart. ‘Idomeneo’ is long and made even longer by the inclusion in performance of the ballet music. Only one of its arias (‘Tutte nel cor vi sento’), has ever made it from the opera house to merit inclusion in the soprano solo concert repertoire, and that rarely. Not to say that it is in any sense flawed, but with so many Mozart goodies to choose from, I would never choose ‘Idomeneo’. Its overture is purpose-designed to segue into Act I, so is unsuitable as a stand-alone concert work; admittedly it is less problematic as an introduction to the ballet music. I was very surprised when, asked at a talk given to the Friends of Scottish Opera in Bridge of Allen, which opera he had yet to conduct he would most long to perform, Scottish Opera’s Head of Music Derek Clark chose ‘Idomeneo’. I asked if he would include the Ballet Music: he answered, “probably not”.
Still, Mozart is Mozart. It was beautifully played and very well received by the Glasgow audience. And the tune in my head on the way home was Mozart: the finale of the flute quartet whose slow movement we had heard in encore earlier in the evening.