Mark Coughlan, conductor
Government House Ballroom
reviewed by Neville Cohn
When Felix Mendelssohn wrote the famous overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, his unmistakable style was already firmly established. He was a mere 17 years and six months old at the time. But when Schubert, at 16, composed his Symphony No 1, there was almost nothing in it to suggest he was on a path to musical immortality, with barely a hint of the wonders yet to pour from his pen. But it is nonetheless a most remarkably skilled offering despite it revealing barely a hint of the stylistic magic yet to come.
In the hands of the Fremantle Chamber Orchestra with Mark Coughlan at the helm, Schubert’s First flashed into life. It was given a strong introduction. Its robust, emphatic quality could hardly have been bettered. I particularly liked Georgia Lane’s skill on the flute in the Andante movement. The Allegro, which came across as an almost folksy dance unfolded with a pleasing sense of onward momentum. Tempo choice was ideal, although the movement’s closing measures were tinged with some uncertainty. Oboes redeemed themselves here. Momentum was well maintained in the finale, its ideas coming across as cheerfully noisy and jovial with strings much on their mettle.
Rossini’s overture to The Italian Girl in Algiers worked its customary magic notwithstanding some uncertainty among upper woodwinds but the music’s inherent insouciance registered most pleasingly.
Whether lyrical or virtuosic, Anne Sleptsova’s playing in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto was a model of its kind. This fine pianist sounded in her element here. So, too, did Louise McKay. Her cello playing, as ever, stylistically beyond reproach with notes clothed in a warm tone, reached the back row of the Ballroom in finest fettle. Rebecca Glorie’s violin tone, though finely formed, was rather restrained. Throughout, Coughlan secured a pleasingly supportive response from his forces in this too-seldom-heard masterpiece.
In years – decades! – of attending concerts at Government House Ballroom, I cannot recall any event which drew a bigger audience than that which flocked to this splendid FCO concert.
During the interval, cheese and biscuits were on offer in GHB’s Supper Room.
