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Christ Church Cathedral
July 8, 2006
"Always on my way home a feeling of melancholy steals over me. And as I come near our house I seem to hear you still - playing the violin."
There are at least two surprising aspects to the above quotation from a letter addressed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: firstly, most of us would naturally think of the piano as Mozart's instrument or, failing that, the viola; secondly, the letter was written by Leopold, Mozart's father and the received impression of Leopold is that he was not a man to be overcome by melancholy at his son's absence - as long as he was absent earning money.
As a prodigy of seven Mozart had, during a visit to Vienna, been presented with a half-size violin. Shortly thereafter, having received no instruction whatsoever, he astonished his family and friends by sight-reading the second violin part in a group of six new string trios by a family friend.
As the boy explained, lessons are not really necessary to play the second violin.
Mozart, it seems, had a natural ability for and understanding of the violin. It seems appropriate then, that it was Mozart who composed the first violin concertos whose aim was to entertain rather than to dazzle the audience with the soloist's virtuosity.
Technically, to be sure, the concertos are not difficult (he wrote, with all the assurance of the non-violinist). The unfortunate consequence of this is that today we tend to hear the concertos either played by youthful prodigies or as filler in concerts of more substantial music with, presumably, less rehearsal time allotted.
While the former may be less problematic than hearing youthful prodigies assault Mozart's piano concertos (generally deeper music than the earlier violin concertos), in neither case is the music really heard to best advantage.
Which brings me to Saturday night's concert. Having heard my share of Mozart concertos in the last decade and a half, I'll readily admit that the prospect of an entire evening of them (plus a very early string divertimento) did not exactly set my pulse racing.
In the event, the less-than-capacity audience were treated to an exceptional evening whose interest never flagged.
The concert opened with the Divertimento K.137. This is an early work, composed when Mozart was just sixteen and typical of the kind of lesser Mozart that can so often sound merely tedious.
Enrique Diemecke, however, shaped a beautiful performance; the sound was excellently balanced and string tone smooth. The second movement was elegant and expressive, the finale wonderfully bouncy. I particularly enjoyed the way in which the fugato passage was cut short with three abrupt chords, as if the young Mozart was thinking "no, I'll wait until I can really do this properly" (which, of course, he did a decade and a half later with the finale of the "Jupiter" symphony).
The Divertimento proved an augury of things to come.
Pablo Diemecke's approach to the solo part of the concertos was undoubtedly a 20th century, almost Romantic one - and, for some, this would be a criticism (if not outright condemnation). Even lesser Mozart, though, can bear a variety of approaches and Pablo's playing was, for me, justification in itself. (I rarely use first names in reviews, but then I can never recall a concert where the conductor and soloist had the same last name).
It was only in the opening movement of the Fifth Concerto that Pablo's enthusiasm, I felt, occasionally got the better of him and his playing became a little more dramatic than the music warranted.
That minor cavil aside, it has been a long time since I heard either concerto performed better. The Diemecke brothers worked well together, with Enrique attentive to Pablo's rubato; and the accompaniment had all the merits of the opening divertimento. Moreover, the balance between soloist and orchestra was all but immaculate - no small achievement in this acoustic.
The addition of a pair each of horns and oboes to the orchestra fleshed out the sound marvellously, making it much "bigger". Indeed, it was only in the "Turkish" section of the finale of the Fifth concerto that I felt a larger ensemble would have been of benefit. Parenthetically, it is interesting to note that this section is one of those rare examples of Mozart's borrowing from himself, in this case the finale of a ballet he wrote in 1773 for the Milan production of Lucio Silla; the ballet's title, Le Gelosie del seraglio ("Harem jealousies") suggesting that Mozart did actually consider this to be Turkish music.
And, while the accompaniment made no more concessions to period practice than the soloist, Enrique still managed to bring out the various lines in the music with a clarity uncommon in this venue.
Although I attended Saturday's concert largely from a sense of duty, I came away very glad that I had. To the brothers Diemecke and their excellent orchestra I offer my thanks for making me reconsider my opinion of music I thought I knew well.
Next Saturday's concert will consist of the Divertimento No.2 and the Second and Fourth Violin concertos. On the evidence of this week's performance it will be as good a way to spend a summer's evening as any I know.
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