MiV Home
St. Ann's Academy Chapel
December 12, 2010
The title page of the Mozart's Quartet KV 478 describes it as a "Quartuor pour le Clavecin ou Forte Piano." In the 1780s, harpsichords still undoubtedly significantly outnumbered fortepianos and to omit the possibility of performing a work on the older instrument was to risk a poor sale of sheet music. Still, there can be little doubt that Mozart wrote this Quartet (and its companion, KV 493) with the fortepiano in mind. One might wonder, then, about why to perform these works on harpsichord. Today we are accustomed to hearing harpsichord music played on piano, but less familiar with piano music played on harpsichord. But turn around is fair play, so why shouldn't harpsichordists help themselves to piano music?
If anyone in the audience had any doubts about whether Mozart's works can successfully be performed on harpsichord, they were removed this evening. We should not be surprised if the music sounds good on harpsichord. Mozart had grown up playing the harpsichord and, in certain respects, the fortepiano of Mozart's day was more closely akin to the harpsichord than it is to its modern descendants. In any case, the harpsichord, while incapable of the suavity of a piano, has a brilliance and effervescence that no piano can match. These qualities lend themselves well to Mozart's sound world. Given my druthers, we would hear Mozart more often on the older instrument. (Clark played a French double built in Vancouver by Craig Tomlinson, an instrument with a big, bold sound.)
In the end, a performance on any instrument has to stand or fall with the quality of the performer, and Katelyn Clark made a resounding case for Mozart on the harpsichord. Beginning with KV 393, she gave bright, detailed and nuanced performances that ought to win over even the most hardened harpso-sceptic. She exploited the emphatic, binary nature of the instrument effectively in the opening Allegro, while still being appealingly lyrical in the opening of following Larghetto.
In Emily Redhead, Clark has a well-matched collaborator. The violinist, playing on an instrument in baroque state and with a baroque bow, gave robust and incandescent readings of her part. Occasionally I thought that the phrasing was a little angular, but Redhead had burnished the part until it shone with a luminous glow.
The concluding Allegretto was full of energy and vim. Clark was really tickling the ole boxwoods. Matthew Ross, playing on a modern cello, but adopting a clean approach to the music, contributed a great deal to the sensation of forward momentum. Pemi Paull, playing the evening's most historically appropriate instrument (though with a chin rest) complete with a transitional bow, delivered poised and polished playing throughout.
After the interval, the audience was treated to a performance of KV 478. G minor is Mozart's most ominous key and the musicians delivered a suitably intense and gripping reading of the first movement.
The succeeding Andante, by way of contrast, was like a gentle spring rain. The overall effect of the performance of this movement was hopeful and life affirming after the tension of the opening movement.
The concluding Rondo (Allegro Moderato) was almost insouciant, though the shadow of anxiety was acknowledged before the movement ended on a positive note.
Throughout the evening, the balance of the instruments was excellent and the ensemble playing tight. At the conclusion of the concert, I overheard someone behind me remark that this had been "a nice way to spend an evening." This, in my view, was an understatement. We were treated to fine performances of musical masterpieces, performances that plumbed the depths of Mozart's deep humanity.
Les Amusements are fine young musicians who deserve a far larger audience than was present at St. Ann's Academy on this occasion. I love hearing chamber music in this beautiful venue - the venue alone is worth the price of admission - but I hope that these musicians soon need to move into a larger venue.
MiV Home