Mozart Oboe Concerto
Queen’s Hall, 20/2/25
Scottish Chamber Orchestra , Maxim Emelyanychev conductor, Ivan Podyomov oboe
A very full house greets the 38-strong Scottish Chamber Orchestra for tonight’s concert, introduced, appropriately, by oboist Katherine Bryer. She looks forward to works that mix light and shade, the latter exemplified in Jay Capperauld’s world premiere, ‘Bruckner’s Skull’; while the energy and optimism of three youthful classical composers shines through tonight’s other works. Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev and the SCO once again produce an exceptional, compelling and, above all, enjoyable performance.
Bogdan Bozovic is the guest leader, and Maria Alba Carmona is the guest Principal Oboe. Both have important roles and clearly enjoy their SCO experience. Welcome back to Adrian Bornet, bass, and Harry Johnstone, one of two horn players. They and trumpeters Peter Franks and Shaun Harrold bring an authentic oomph to the opening of Schubert’s Symphony No 1 in D Major, written in 1813 when he was sixteen. Juvenilia? Perish the thought! The confident first movement, with many dramatic tutti passages given added drama from a series of elaborate timpani rolls by Louise Lewis Goodwin, sets the mark for a beautifully constructed symphony. Schubert writes well for the woodwinds, and the collaboration between André Cebrián, Principal Flute and Maria Alba Carmona on oboe (they work together in the Azahar wind quintet ) shone in the quieter section just before the movement’s final flourish.
Brass and timpani rest in the second movement in which Maxim Emelyanychev takes a relaxed attitude to the forward moving andante which begins the movement, as he and leader Bogdan Bozovic relish the ritardandos which punctuate the music. A particularly languorous slowing down leads to a pause before another woodwind interlude. The minuet, marked allegro, begins at a fair lick, heavy-footed with rasping brass, and then the woodwind and a string quartet (Philip Higham, cello, Max Mandel, viola and Marcus Barcham Stevens, principal second violin joining the leader) give a lighter feel to the charming Ländler-style trio. The finale’s allegro vivace with plenty of syncopated rhythms races to its rousing conclusion, before the kind of enthusiastic applause usually reserved for the end of concerts!
The conductor returns with Ivan Podyomov, the soloist in Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C Major. Born in Arkhangelsk, Russia, he is the Principal Oboe for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, as well as being much in demand as a soloist. He and Maxim Emelyanychev worked together in collaboration with Il Pomo Doro on a recording of this concerto. This is one of three performances of Mozart wind concertos this season: André Cebrián played the Flute Concerto in the autumn and Cerys Ambrose-Evans will play the Bassoon Concerto in the spring. Mozart’s concertos are among his most popular works, with frequent radio plays of the concertos for clarinet and horn (several of the horn concertos were heard so regularly on the radio at one time that Flanders and Swann wrote a parody). Yet most of the oboe concerto was unfamiliar to me. Written in 1777 when Mozart was 22, (its K313 number places it around the middle of his working life), it became the party piece of an oboist whom Mozart enjoyed working with, but shortly after that it vanished until the manuscript’s rediscovery in 1920.
Ivan Podyomov, a tall blond figure, imposes his authority on a work which makes virtuosic demands on its soloist from his first entry. The smaller orchestra, missing bassoons, clarinets, trumpets and timpani, allow him to weave the sometimes off-beat rhythm round their more four-square accompaniment. He plays with precision and delicacy, and a seemingly casual approach to the decorated passages; the fluent cadenza – possibly his own - leads to a burst of horns before the end of the movement. The adagio non troppo begins with an orchestral exposition of the theme which is then played by the soloist as a simple legato melody against the string accompaniment. A descending scale in the lower strings punctuates the increasing complexity of the soloist’s embellishments before a luxuriating slow cadenza. The perky third movement has a main theme which sounds like an aria from ‘Die Entführung aus dem Serail’ written six years later, though the exact reference eludes me. Certainly, its comic singspiel cheekiness provides scope for plenty of wit in the soloist’s twisting in and around the melody, while Maxim Emelyanychev introduces playful by-play with the orchestra’s oboists – a foreshadowing here, a swift rejoinder there. Ivan Podyomov and the orchestra’s expertly played, but always affectionate, performance finishes to cheers and stamping. As an encore he joins Max Mandel, viola, Philip Higham, cello and Bogdan Bozovic, violin, for a movement from Mozart’s Oboe Quartet.
Jay Capperauld’s ‘Bruckner’s Skull’, commissioned by the SCO with support from the Fidelio Charitable Trust and the Marchus Trust, is based on stories about Bruckner’s worship of Schubert and Beethoven, and may be said to fit well into a programme in which works by both are played. Jay Capperauld, aware of the legend that Bruckner “cradled” the skulls of Schubert and Beethoven when they were exhumed in 1888, decided to call his exploration of Bruckner’s mentality ‘Bruckner’s Skull’. He was diagnosed with ‘numeromania’ a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which featured relentless counting. Ticking noises and rhythmically repeated small motifs permeates the music, and also suggest the passage of time. The initial squeals come as a surprise, but are, I think, produced by Marta Gómez on piccolo, and subsequent noises, like bow tapping, are played on conventional musical instruments, like those Schubert and Beethoven wrote for, rather than the modern and invented percussive instruments which Jay Capperauld has used in previous works. So his insertions of quotations from the ‘Moonlight Sonata’ (though not played on piano), Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ Quartet and Bruckner’s own music can be slipped easily into the composition. Although I spotted snatches of 19th century music, I wasn’t able to identify them, and I confess the allusions mostly passed me by. The raucous final section represent the conflicts which Bruckner’s obsessions must have caused him. Jay Capperauld is in the audience and is warmly applauded at the end. Find out more about his inspiration for ‘Bruckner’s Skull in the programme notes. Programme Notes | Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Beethoven’s Symphony No 1 in C Major which concludes the programme is famously innovative from the first notes – the resolution of the ‘forbidden’ chord. (Stay on the same page of the programme notes for David Kettle’s expert explanation.) Nevertheless the symphony sticks pretty closely to established practice in its structure. Nearly 30 when this first symphony was completed, Beethoven was entirely sure of himself, and the work’s confident swagger is appealing, from the rough-edged trumpets in the first movement through the lilting canon for strings in the andante, to the minuet which seems to start mid-tune and develops into a gallop. Fast changes of direction and heavily-accented rhythms bring the symphony to an exhilarating conclusion. And after much applause the musicians and audience leave, many still with smiles on their faces. An ideal counterblast to a windy February night!
Next Thursday in the Usher Hall, Andrew Manze conducts the Fauré Requiem with the SCO Chorus and soloists Roderick Williams and Julia Doyle. For preparatory reading, the SCO’s online essays News | Scottish Chamber Orchestra are worth seeking out. ‘Visions of the Afterlife: the Requiem Mass’ provides a good introduction and I’d also recommend my EMR colleague Brian Bannatyne-Scott’s article A Singer’s Guide to Requiems — Edinburgh Music Review
