Marvellous sounds in two Warwickshire concerts

IN 1967, Swedish filmmakers used the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21, for the film Elvira Madigan. This anachronistic nickname has stuck with the concerto. A very youthful looking Kit Armstrong, now 20, still under the watchful eye of Alfred Brendel, gave a cadenza filled performance – to be frank– a cadenza overloaded performance, something I’m sure Brendel would not have allowed if he had been in the hall.

Mozart’s original cadenza in the first movement is lost and Armstrong has his own creation and another for the third movement, but never have I heard the second movement begin with another cadenza. For his encore Armstrong chose Mozart’s Fantasy in C minor.

Berlin Symphony emerged in 1952 from East Berlin as the rival to West Berlin’s Philharmonic. Both delight in delivering Beethoven. His third symphony, Eroica, dominated the second half of this concert, conducted by guest conductor Alexander Liebreich, clearly trying to create an impression by wearing a bright red-lined jacket and conducting with abandon similar to that displayed by Ashkenazy. Fortunately, on both occasions the orchestra players followed their first violin leaders.

Warmly welcoming the choir from the town of Villebon, close to Paris, was very much the focus of Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra’s ‘twinning concert’, bringing together Choeur Josquin des Prés and Collegium, Warwick, under the orderly guidance of Guy Woolfenden and Jean-Yves Malmasson, conductors and composers from different generations, with differing styles, both capable of extracting a marvellous choral sound from gifted mixed choirs.

Malmasson conducted his own composition, Quatrième Symphonie, Op.47, created specially for this Warwick concert and a performance in Villebon later this week. The ‘world première’ benefited from the delightful text writer Emmanuelle Piget’s singing her own words.

Ellie Ball (clarinet), Jane Woolfenden (cor anglais) and the horns gave excellent support to soloists Roberto Garcia Lopez and Darren Jeffrey in Puccini’s Messa di Gloria. This youthful creation remained unperformed for 72 years after the first performance – it is an uplifting piece and deserves a prominent place in choral repetoires.

Long may the twinning continue!

Clive Peacock