Australian Chamber Orchestra celebrates a stormy night of Mozart

Dramatic paintings by JMW Turner in the concert program said all that needed to be said about the ACO’s turbulent celebration of Mozart.

Richard Tognetti performed Mozart’s third violin concerto. Picture: Christie Brewster

• Young talent time for Brandies
• Where elegance begins and Ehnes
• Luminous still shines on
• The Lang Lang effect

Storms at sea and avalanches in the mountains set the atmosphere for this program featuring Croatian pianist Dejan Lazic, which was book ended by two of the most famous Sturm und Drang symphonies in the canon — Haydn’s groundbreaking Tempesta di mare and Mozart’s No. 25 with its first movement now forever associated with the opening moments of Milos Forman’s movie Amadeus.

The meat in the sandwich was Lazic’s exemplary performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 and the Australian premier of Rondo Concertante, Lazic’s own orchestral setting of the cadenza from the Piano sonata in B-flat major K333, followed in the second half by Richard Tognetti’s masterly and finely-nuanced reading of the third violin concerto.

This was a first class evening of music, with the ACO filled out by a surprisingly large woodwind and brass section — some flown over from Europe for the tour.

Haydn scored his 39th symphony to include four horns to help give the effects of a storm at sea, and Mozart, as a 17-year-old, modelled his G minor symphony on that of his friend, using the same forces. This makes them ideal companions on a concert program and the ACO managed by and large to overcome any imbalances you might expect from such wind power behind 18 string players.

OBSESSED

Tognetti and his regulars were aided by the choir of two excellent oboists in Melbourne Symphony’s Michael Pisani and Sydney’s David Papp, with some low-down grunt from the bassoons of Malte Refardt and Simone Walters.

Pianist Lazic is no stranger to these shores — this is his 11th visit and he has collaborated with Tognetti many times, including an unlikely appearance with Barry Humphries at the Opera House 10 years ago. He has been obsessed with Mozart since childhood, and even ended up studying in the composer’s home town Salzburg.

The 14th concerto is not heard much in concert halls these days, and with Lazic’s handling of it — particularly the lovely slow movement — it’s hard to see why.

It’s hard not to come away from a Mozart concert without a spring in your step, and this was no exception, along with a brisk following wind from the two stormy symphonies with their four horns.

The concert is repeated at 8pm at City Recital Hall Angel Place on Tuesday, September 17, and at Sydney Opera House Concert Hall at 3pm on Sunday, September 15.

DETAILS

● CONCERT Australian Chamber Orchestra: Celebrating Mozart

● WHERE City Recital Hall Angel Place

● WHEN Thursday, September 12

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