Sydney Morning Herald review of Tognetti's Mozart

Magical sounds, from one era to the next

One of the chameleon tricks that the Australian Chamber Orchestra is required to perform is to represent itself credibly against original-instrument orchestras when playing mainstream 18th century music. They also need to retain the robustness of tone and projection for chamber orchestra works from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Playing styles have evolved in the last 30 years such that these two styles have distinctly separated. For this concert they had to change their spots mid-program. For the works of Mozart and Haydn, they had assembled an unusually fine wind section, playing replica 18th century instruments with musicianship and control of colour that matched many of the world’s dedicated original instrument orchestras.

To finish, they played an arrangement of Grieg’s String Quartet in G minor, Opus 27, which called on the strings to produce the force and depth of sound of the Romantic age.

In such an exercise, the strings need to compromise to bridge the stylistic gap. Where feasible the ACO string play on gut strings of the type used in the 18th century, forsaking the depth and richness of later string technology for a light silvery burnish, while also using modern bows.

Although not stated in the program, Richard Tognetii seemed to use the gut strings (or else emulated their characteristic effect) on his Guarneri del Gesu violin in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.4 in D major, K.218.

Because of the greater tendency of gut to whistle and scrape, players are often reluctant to press deeply into the sound prompting a dragging manner which in turn affects the rhythm and articulation.

Personally, I prefer the crisper, beautifully articulated and rhythmic phrasing I recall from one of Tognetti’s very earliest performances of a Mozart concerto with the ACO, though this performance was certainly well received. The wind sound, particularly from the oboes, was exquisite.

After the interval Haydn’s Symphony No.46 in B major contained stylish vivid 18th century playing and one could not but applaud the intrepid horn players courageously negotiating wide-ranging parts on perilously unpredictable valveless horns.

Of the two string quartet arrangements, Schubert’s Quartettsatz was well phrased but did not quite inspire the players to the range of sound that Grieg’s Quartet did which, with its episodic volatile style, was well suited to the vivid enhancement of range and colour the ACO achieved here.

Peter McCallum | Sydney Morning Herald | 15 Feb 2010