United Kingdom Schoenberg, Schmelzer, Mozart: André Cebrian (flute), Scottish Chamber Orchestra / Andrew Manze (conductor). City Halls Glasgow, 15.11.2024. (GT)
Schoenberg – Chamber Symphony No.2, Op.38
Mozart – Flute Concerto No.1 in G major, K 313/K 285c; Symphony No.35 ‘Haffner’ in D major, K 385
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (arr. Manze) – Serenata
Following last week’s programme of Nordic composers, this evening marked a return to more standard repertoire by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra – another change was the appearance of the orchestra’s newly appointed Principal Guest Conductor, Andrew Manze. This highly gifted musician has been a welcome visitor to Scotland for many seasons. I recall warmly his revelatory conducting of Beethoven symphonies with this orchestra during the anniversary year of Beethoven in 2020 before the pandemic brought it to an end. Manze has a composer’s understanding of the structure of a composition – taking the score apart and reconstructing it – making it fresh – as if it was written yesterday.
The Schoenberg Chamber Symphony No.2 originated in 1906 and completed in 1939 making it a strange partner along the classical pieces of Mozart and the comparatively unknown Johann Heinrich Schmelzer whilst offering a rather bracing opening to the concert. The Chamber Symphony embraced a lush and colourful orchestral harmony of his earlier style with somewhat an affinity to the symphonies of Mahler in the first movement (Adagio) with beautiful, yet melancholically recurring passages from the flute of André Cebrian, and by the cello of Philip Higham. The second movement (Con fuoco) as if from a quite different work with its heartening buoyancy and simple beauty heard through the diverse ideas from the woodwind, brass and strings, while the final sequence reprised the opening sad idea on the flute and brought this intriguing piece to a close.
The Spanish-born Cebrian has performed all over Europe as a soloist and since 2020 has been the principal flute with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Composed for the court of Mannheim, Mozart’s G major Flute Concerto reflects on a happy period in which the 21-year-old composer embraced the upbeat musical world of the German court. Despite his dislike of the instrument, Mozart wrote this concerto for the flute and is boundless in its joyful love of life. It was immediately evident in the opening theme from the strings and woodwind, yet the entry of the flute by Cebrian seemed more reflective, heralding the emotionally bright development, before the gloriously performed cadenza in which Cebrian effortlessly revealed his virtuosity. The gorgeously adorned writing for the flute was even more evident in the second movement (Adagio ma non troppo) and the soloist evinced all the silky tenor before the finale (Rondo, Tempo do menuetto) highlighted by a mischievous upbeat idea, heralding a brief rivalry between the two flutes in the orchestra, frozen by the soloist comically before the unfussy but satisfying climax. Cebrian performed as an encore a touchingly moving Spanish folksong in memory of the recent flooding in Valencia.
The creativity of Johann Heinrich Schmelzer is little known, but he was an important musician and Kapellmeister in Leopold I’s Viennese court in the late seventeenth century. He was a violinist and musicologist specializing in the violin and died in Prague five years before the birth of J S Bach. The Serenata con altre arie dates from 1667 and was arranged in 2024 by Manze who has studied Schmelzer extensively. The five-movement Serenata embraces a richly written tapestry of styles that were prevalent in the Hapsburg court. It sounds almost like a collection of balletic dances; madrigals, songs and individual instrumental pieces with the quickly changing harmony in the Erlicino (‘Harlequin’) movement invoking characters from the commedia dell’arte; while the gentle swaying Ciaconna is constructed around a repetitive bassline, with a theme shared among the strings; before an evocative Campanella alternating finally with the heavy tread of the Lamento, which was as if it was a farewell to the carnival with the slightly broken trembling notes at the end. This was a delightful piece that made one want to hear more from the composer.
Mozart’s ‘Haffner’ is never far from this orchestra’s programmes, and here – under Manze’s direction – was given a sparkling performance of this ever-popular symphony. Despite hearing this work many times, I cannot remember a more satisfying performance. Again, one was impressed by Manze’s startling ability to make well-known works seem original and vibrant – as if the music was just freshly written from the composer’s pen. Directing throughout without a baton and with his glasses on the conductor had the appearance of a university professor coaxing the music from his musicians.
The symphony’s associations with the ‘serenade’ genre was evident in the celebratory mood in the opening bars of the strikingly fiery Allegro con spirito with the thundering timpani and brass glorifying in the lurid orchestral music. These moods were detached in the Andante with its more reserved temperament; while the briefly joyful Minuetto reprised the celebratory mood of the opening Allegro, highlighted by the flutes and the bassoons, before Manze busily stirred his musicians towards the dazzling Presto finale, with the whole ensemble racing to the joyfully, celebrant climax. It was a hugely enjoyable concert showing off the orchestra’s manifest and brilliant virtuoso qualities and, especially the wonderful musicality of Andrew Manze.
Gregor Tassie