Glenmoriston Millennium Hall, Invermoriston, 16 June 2012

THE SCO is remarkable for its accuracy and collective intelligence, and an entire programme of Mozart shows off its paces very prettily, as well as being a useful beginner’s guide to the composer.

Alexander Janiczek (photo Colin Jackson)

THE evening starts and ends with Symphonies, the first being one Mozart wrote at the age of 16. Only sixteen, yet this was his 21st symphony (A major, K134) – and under its lighthearted exterior there is great strength and complexity. The contrast between graceful silvery flutes and powerful pizzicato strings, the assured use of counterpoint and the lovely final movement with its light, skipping violin opening are all handled with sureness and precision by the SCO players.

Mozart was twice that age in 1788 when he wrote the Symphony which closes the programme (No. 39 in E flat, K543), and the experience and maturity those years had brought shows from the very first bars of the dramatic opening which acts almost as an overture to the rest of the first movement.

The lyrical second movement is expressed with elegance and emotion, but never at the cost of clarity, while the Wind and Brass section have their moment of glory in the Trio with its lovely clarinet work. The final movement sets off at a hectic pace, which in other hands could be a threat to that lovely crispness and clarity which is the hallmark of the concert – but they never lose their touch.

The symphony sandwich has a very tasty filling; the first half closes with the Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat, K495, written in 1786 as one of a series for his friend, the virtuoso horn player Joseph Leutgeb, all of which are a challenge for soloists. Luckily the SCO has nurtured its own virtuoso, Alec Frank-Gemmill, who at the Mozartianly tender age of 26 is already a player of international stature.

His technical mastery throughout the register creates beautifully smooth, rounded and pure notes, with no shrillness at the top or blaring at the bottom, but it is the way he communicates his passion for and understanding of the music to a village hall audience that marks him as a true star. Even the ‘Rondo: allegro vivace’ movement, one of the best known Mozart pieces (and memorably set to words by Flanders and Swann), sounds fresh and exciting.

Another bonne-bouche starts the second half off with a swing – the Rondo in B-flat major for Violin and Orchestra, K269, in which the renowned chamber musician Alexander Janiczek, tonight’s Director and guest leader, steps forward as soloist. Janiczek has the sort of verve and attack one usually associates with the folk tradition of Shetland or Eastern European Gypsies allied with consummate skill and again, the ability to convey his passion and understanding of the work. As if that wasn’t enough, Janiczek plays a 1731 Guarneri violin for whose rich bright warmth the clarity and precision of the orchestra provides the perfect setting. All this under the mist-shrouded, pine-clad peaks of Invermoriston on a long summer night makes for an experience to treasure forever.

© Jennie Macfie, 2012

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