MOZART LARKS
Review of September 2024 Concert
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Performing to an enthusiastic audience & full house created a great “Vibe” at the St Matthews Chamber Orchestra Concert on Sunday. Aided by the well-balanced programming combining the 18th Century with the 20th Century, we leapt into the concert with Lara Hall the violin soloist conducting the first movement of the Lilburn Diversions for String Orchestra, establishing a vivacious mood and tempo. This suite of 5 short movements, “did not attract critical acclaim” according to a reviewer at the time when first performed, but it is certainly a well-respected work here, conveying colour, rhythmic clarity, & at its heart, Lilburn’s love for rural NZ and a lyrical vision of home. The strings achieved tidy ensemble work. Interestingly Lilburn studied at the RCM under Ralph Vaughan Williams from 1937-1940 so we can hear in this program the influence of his tutor.
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Following on in the first half, the orchestra had the privilege of being joined by Lara Hall to play Mozart’s 4th Violin Concerto as soloist. Written as a teenager this is an elegant and lyrical short work in which Lara captured the audience from start to finish, taking us on a sublime musical journey from the brilliance of her cadenza in the 1st movement to the very end! Movement 2, the Andante had the solo violin fulfilling an operatic soprano role which balanced wit & charm. Masterfully crafted, Mozart shows more maturity than we might expect from a teenager. Swiftly we arrive at the Finale, based on reoccurring themes introduced by the violin in the character of a minuet. This tidily wraps the concerto up.
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After the interval Lara took us to England in Spring, to the countryside where we were immersed in the courting flight of the skylark. The solo violin opens with a delicate cadenza. In The Lark Ascending, Vaughan Williams blends the styles of romanticism, impressionism, and atonal music all at once. We hear folk songs and Tudor modes mixed with rhythmic freedom delivering a quintessentially” English” sound. Lara gave an exceptional performance, supported by Michael Joel who once again got the best from the orchestra, with his superb conducting skills, we heard excellent ensemble playing from both wind and brass sections and the strings raised the bar achieving delicate soft playing followed by the exquisite silence at the end of The Lark Ascending.
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The encore was a rousing Ligeti duet for 2 violins, and Lara chose the leader of the orchestra Harrison, her past pupil, to perform with her.
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Rounding off the concert was Mozart’s 40th Symphony. Distinctive because it’s in a minor key, but also one of the most emotionally intense symphonies, with the tune unfolding with the lower strings setting up a pulsating rhythmic motor whilst violins expose a restless melody which gets passed around to woodwinds, gets remodeled and returns. The development is harmonically adventurous followed by the recapitulation, then we come home again.
Yes, a classical work in terms of structure & Classical decorum, but the intent seems highly dramatic and romantic. This concerto like all of Mozart’s concertos revealed his wealth of invention, insight and resource in the working out of musical ideas, which the orchestra embraced.
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Review by Stephanie Van Leuven