Maxim Emelyanychev plays Mozart

St Cecilia’s Hall 10/5/25

Maxim Emelyanychev keyboards

Concert sponsored by the French Institute as part of their Baroque Music Festival

St Cecilia’s Hall has been rearranged in transverse style, with three large keyboard instruments along the middle.  The sizeable audience are seated on both sides and at either ends. Maxin Emelyanychev, Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, is also a brilliant keyboard player, and his Mozart recital tonight, the final concert in the Festival of Baroque Music sponsored by the French Institute, has been highly anticipated.   SCO regulars will testify to the curiosity, imagination and panache in his conducting and keyboard playing, especially in the annual Baroque Inspirations concerts – but hearing him in a solo recital is a rare opportunity

He begins with Mozart’s Fantasy in C minor K475 on the fortepiano, a 1998 British copy of a 1794 Viennese instrument – Mozart had a similar one at home.  The excellent programme notes by the Curator of the Musical Instrument Collection, Jenny Nex, tells us , ‘The action is light and responsive giving the player a close connection to the strings.”  It takes some time for the ears to adjust to the sound of the instrument, especially to the separated, almost staccato quality of the notes, caused by the (apparent) lack of pedals.  Quieter and louder passages are differentiated and parts of the work require dramatic runs, but the intimate music and the playing style are more suggestive of a practised keyboard player trying  out an instrument at home rather than a public-facing performance.

Some of the fortepiano’s tricks are revealed during Sonata No 14 in C minor K457.  Maxim Emelyanychev shows us the two knee-levers which operate the dampers and another quietening device, which uses cloth padding.  These are used to some effect in the three movements of the sonata.  In the adagio second movement the pianist plays without dampers during the simple melody and its decorations, and then uses the levers to produces a softer legato effect. The allegro third movement contrasts alternate loud and soft passages, and it culminates in a crossover section for the hands requiring complicated fingering and some stretching– Maxim believes this is a typical Mozart practical joke on the young lady dedicatee of the Sonata.

There’s a short interval, during which the fortepiano gets some TLC from the tuner, and then we go back in time to the harpsichord, a 1769 Parisian instrument. It has two keyboards which can be shunted to and fro to produce more muffled notes. This maker’s instruments, “with rich sonorous bass and elegant sweet treble, have an extremely beautiful and exciting sound,” the programme notes tell us.  The sound quality and the familiarity of Sonata No 16 in C Major K545, one of Mozart’s most popular works for amateur players, immediately turns this fascinating exploration of keyboards into a sparkling recital. The first  movement with its many runs is taken at a pace well  beyond most amateurs, and in the graceful andante, Maxim reveals the harpsichord’s “lute” function, and plays part of  movement as if on plucked strings.  Here and in the rondo allegretto he enjoys adding his own embellishments.

For the “melancholic” Rondo in A minor K11 we’re back to the fortepiano.  Possibly my ears are better adjusted to the sound, or maybe the tuner’s ministrations have ironed out any issues, but the possibilities rather than the limitations of the instrument now seem more obvious, especially the dynamic range between loud and quiet notes.  Finally Maxim plays Mozart’s Sonata No 18 in D Major K576 on the late twentieth century Yamaha grand piano (Boudoir). Written in 1789, this was Mozart’s last Sonata, and having assaulted the Grade VII examiner’s ears over fifty years ago with the first movement, I know it well enough to note the pianist’s lively opening – the rising fanfare of notes which  led to its nickname the ‘Trumpet Sonata’ - as well as the exciting runs and the effortless small improvisations and decorations.  The adagio is stately and simple while the allegretto balances witty staccato and showy flourishes.  An appreciative ovation greets the conclusion of the concert, and continues after the encore, a relatively modern piece using the range of the grand piano’s possibilities. Maxim announces that as he has three instruments there will be three encores!  He plays them all without a score, and chooses them to suit the instruments, after the grandiose work for the grand piano, a slow intimate version, possibly of Schubert, on the fortepiano, and finally Bach’s Prelude No 1 from the Well-tempered Klavier on the harpsichord. A beautifully-judged conclusion to a memorable concert.

The French Institute are to be commended for organising their inaugural Festival of Baroque Music which has brought together international singers, keyboard players and other instrumentalists for a series of concerts in April and May.  The large enthusiastic audience tonight and, I gather, at other concerts should encourage them to make this an annual event.

photo credit: Jean Allen digital content Friends of St Cecilia’s Hall and Museum