St Martin in the
Fields
Handel – Solomon: ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’
Mozart – Piano Concerto no.13
in C major, KV 415
Bach – Piano Concerto no.7 in
G minor, BWV 1058
Mozart – Adagio and Fugue in
C minor, KV 546
Mozart – Serenade in G minor,
KV 525, ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’
Nick van Bloss (piano)
London Octave
Andrew Watkinson (director)
The LSO’s free Berlioz
concert in Trafalgar Square coincided awkwardly with the first half of this
concert at St Martin in the Fields; one’s heart went out to the performers. In
the circumstances, a desire to rush through The
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba was not entirely unforgivable; once one’s
ears adjusted to the very quick tempo, there was cultivated playing to be heard
from the members of London Octave, twelve-strong, despite the name. Intonation
was more of a problem during parts of Mozart’s neglected C major Piano
Concerto, KV 415. (It doubtless suffers from comparisons with two brothers in
the same key.) Fortunately, Nick van Bloss offered compensation with the piano
part. True majesty was imparted to the first movement, despite the lack of
trumpets and drums (and woodwind). A more yielding approach announced itself
during each movement’s cadenza. The slow movement in particular offered ample
evidence of the pianist’s skill in spinning a line; as long as it lasted, it
was sung, with not a hint of the choppiness that bedevils so much contemporary
Mozart performance. A fine balance, moreover, was struck between the ‘hunting’
high spirits – never, of course, unalloyed in Mozart – and the minor mode
Adagio material in the finale. Whilst it would hardly be plausible to claim
that the other orchestral instruments were not missed, they were missed less
than one might have expected.
Van Bloss was on better form
still in Bach’s G minor Piano Concerto; the orchestra too seemed more at ease,
with few tuning problems this time around. This was, especially so far as the
piano was concerned, a muscular performance, eager to communicate Bach’s
harmonic rhythm, and very successful in doing so. One hears the music very
differently from the original violin version (up a semitone), not least because
of the piano’s left-hand part, which here helped greatly in generating and
sustaining impetus in performance. The slow movement benefited from judicious
application of left-hand octaves, Busoni’s example followed in the best spirit.
Onward tread was not impaired but rather incited by the gravitas engendered.
The joy of the dance was fully experienced in the finale, though without any of
that hard-driven quality so fashionable in so-called ‘authentic’ performances.
Mozart’s great C minor Adagio
and Fugue offered an apt pendant, speaking as it does of Mozart’s absorption in
the contrapuntal example of Bach and Handel – and in the chromaticism of the
former. It is certainly one of those works in which Mozart stands mid-way
between Bach and Schoenberg, and that is for the most part how it felt here,
though there were again certain aggravations in terms of tuning, especially
during the fugue. Eine kleine Nachtmusik
certainly seemed to appeal to elements of a somewhat restless audience, and
much of the playing could be enjoyed, though it takes a more inspired rendition
– most likely with a conductor – to elevate this all-too-familiar music to the
stature it deserves. Still, with the exception of a fast minuet – surely too
fast for ‘Allegretto’ – tempi were judiciously chosen, and the music progressed
without fussy interruption.
