MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante KV364; HAYDN: Violin Concertos 1 in C & 4 in G – Rachel Podger / Pavlo Beznosiuk/ Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – Channel Classics multichannel SACD CCSSA29309; 67:43 ***** [Distr. by Harmonia mundi]:
Haydn’s violin concertos haven’t been programmed in concert nearly as often as Mozart’s, and their good-natured content is many an audience’s loss. Written in the first half of the 1760s, the G major concerto was certainly dedicated to Luigi Tomasini, the first violinist of the orchestra at Esterhazy, and it is possible some of the others were, too.
There’s an Italian flavour to some of the writing, and as Clemens Romijn points out in his excellent essay, something of the baroque remaining, too. The writing is also demanding, with fearsome double stopping, sometimes in tenths, spiccato, cantileno slow movements, in fact everything for a virtuoso violinist like Tomasini to find interest in playing.
And Rachel Podger similarly astounds with her playing, for the Haydn choosing her own Pesarinius of 1739. Arpeggios are beautifully even, the adagios richly toned. The outer movements are brim full of Haydn’s good nature and the virtuoso aspects exquisitely played.
Haydn and Mozart had not yet met at the time the Sinfonia Concertante was written; the 23 year old Mozart wrote the piece in Salzburg during the latter part of 1779 and it is possible he and his father Leopold gave performances. Its half hour has it sunny mood reserved for the last movement, the middle one has a feeling of tragedy, perhaps due to the difficult year Mozart had had beforehand, the most tragic part being his mother’s death.
For this recording, Rachel Podger and Pavlo Beznosiuk play a fine pair of Stradivarius instruments, the violin the Crespi of 1699, the viola the Castelbarco of about 1720, both in the collection of the Royal Academy of Music, London, and played with gut strings and classical style bows. The soloists’ years of experience playing together tell here, the ensemble between them faultless, and the timbres they achieve weave well together, too.
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment contribute a splendid sound, rich and full, and the high resolution recording from Jared Sacks and his Channel team is it has to be said, unsurprisingly, superbly musical. It sounds superb in stereo, and the multichannel version gives a concert hall perspective with sound of the highest order.
A release of the highest calibre!
— Peter Joelson
