Symphony In GC.P.E. - Bach
Divertimento In F K138 - Mozart
Piano Concerto In E Flat K449 - Mozart
Divertimento In E Flat Hob.II:6 - Haydn
Camerata Bern's concert on Saturday, at St Canice's Cathedral, left one with more to treasure than the quality of the music-making. This is a group that listens as intensely as it plays, in which each section is aware of what the others are doing and in which lively physical movement on the platform is part of a continuous communication. The experience in leading period-instrument orchestras of Christine Busch, directing from the first desk, showed at once.
C.P.E. Bach is, more often than not, presented as an elegant classicist with occasional rough edges. Not so in this performance of his Symphony In G, which was astonishingly muscular. It reinforced his connections with the gestural world of baroque music, and although the results sometimes seemed overemphatic, they were interesting and thought-provoking.
The approach to Bach's younger contemporary Mozart was completely different, making the most of his long-line melodies, connectedness and lyricism. Presenting the concerto without the composer's specified wind instruments seemed perverse, even though those parts mainly double the strings. But the taut, responsive relationship between Camerata Bern and Frank Braly, an insightful and lively soloist, made one forget the absence.
The concert's last item was Four Transylvanian Dances by Sandor Veress. Elaborate compositional techniques and asymmetrical rhythms make them demanding but exhilarating pieces to play. This zesty, on-the-edge performance was utterly persuasive. A memorable concert.
