LF 26: Jeremy Denk plays Mozart Piano Concertos III

St Mary’s Church, Haddington, 12/9/26

Royal Northern Sinfonia; Jeremy Denk (piano/director); Maria Włoszczowska (director)

Jeremy Denk’s third and final foray into Mozart’s piano concertos at this year’s Lammermuir Festival was on the night of 12th September.  Again directing the Royal Northern Sinfonia from the keyboard in St Mary’s Church, Haddington, he played No 24 in C minor and No 25 in C major, both dating from 1786.  Appearing between those on the programme, violinist Maria Wloszczowska was due to direct Britten’s colourful string orchestra tribute to his teacher, ‘Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge’.  In the event, an issue requiring remedial action on one of the horns meant that the Britten was played first.

The Britten is one of those pieces where the apprentice honours the master, but also asserts his independence and spreads his wings.  It is a great favourite of mine, and I’m always glad to catch a performance.  Maria and the strings of the orchestra let us know that they love it too by delivering a persuasive reading of the charming theme and its 10 ingeniously transformed, characterful and mostly whimsical variations,  Particularly memorable were the obsessive Bourrée, the anguished Funeral March and the concluding Fugue and Finale.

The chilling conspiratorial opening of the C minor concerto set the brooding Sturm-und-Drang mood perfectly.  The fuller orchestra, with clarinets and flutes joining the double winds, and trumpets and timpani in the mix, promised drama.  However, with most of the players standing and intervisible and Mr Denk facing the orchestra as before, the scope for a chamber reading was undiminished.  So it unfolded.  The chamber interplay between the augmented winds and the soloist was particularly delicious, as was the elegantly pointed contrast offered by the major key second theme.  The cadenza was another unfamiliar one (to me at any rate), with well-crafted counterpoint in an ingenious fugal episode.  Whether it is Mr Denk’s own (as I suspect) or not, it is a gem.  Nicely pointed coda too.  The Larghetto opens with a major key theme of such limpid innocence that when attending a public performance, I always have to suppress a sigh; this time it was no different.  Exquisite.  A minor key interlude, introduced by the winds, was answered beautifully by the soloist, one of many passages of chamber interplay, in which Mozart also included the strings.  He could not resist (and who can blame him?) giving the full wind band a passage all to themselves.  The finale is one of Mozart’s finest theme-and-variations movements.  The theme in the minor has a ballad-like narrative quality that lends itself to variations and Mozart exploits it fully with ingenious variety.  They unfolded with a freshness that was engaging and almost improvisatory.  A major-key variation introduced by solo oboe is a great favourite of mine and it was delicious.  The final, mischievous scampering variation introduced by the piano was no less delightful, proving that mirth can be wrung from minor keys.  Fabulous.

Now, I have to admit that with so many gems to be found amongst Mozart’s piano concerti, I’ve always found No.25 a bit of a rough diamond.  It’s really just the first movement, full of fanfares, swagger, pomp and circumstance that is not particularly my cup of tea and always feels (and of course this is highly subjective) somewhat overblown.  Jeremy Denk and the RNS made me reconsider. And, whilst the C major is never destined to be among my top 10, I will acknowledge that the first movement is more than bearable and amply compensated for by the goodies in the other movements,  I found the second theme charming and its playful reprise on the strings before the cadenza (another interesting one) was delightful.  The role of Maria Wloszczowska’s direction in shaping the orchestral phrasing was crucial.  It made sense.  The Andante, a leisurely 3 with strings, winds and soloists often as 3 different characters, unfolded as a tender romance, with lovely lyricism and ornamentation from the piano, and whimsical comments from the orchestra.  Very satisfying.  The finale, a light-hearted rondo with mostly playful episodes and one wistfully tender one from a lyrical piano that was unforgettable, was a delight, bringing Jeremy Denk’s presentation of 6 Mozart concerti over .3 concerts to a close, and prompting a pang of regret at having to miss the first of the 3 concerts.  On the up side, the only two Mozart piano concerti in which I have ever played, No.12 in the second violins and No.20 in the cellos, both appeared in Lammermuir programmes this year.

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