Symphony No 8 Le Soir - Haydn

Piano Concerto in C K246 - Mozart

Piano Concerto in C minor K491

The playing in Tuesday night's concert at the NCH seemed to be shaped by an approach which was consistent but not always persuasive. Pianist Hugh Tinney, the Orchestra of St Cecilia and conductor Geoffrey Spratt were completing this year's contribution to a three-year project to perform all of Mozart's piano concertos.

The approach was epitomised by Haydn's Symphony No 8 Le Soir. Orchestral balance and ensemble were not as well-honed as I have heard from this orchestra before; but that would not have been so problematic if the rhythmic style had been more focused.

The light-toned playing appeared to aim for a chamber music type of deftness. But it did not have the precision of gesture to achieve it.

These limitations affected the orchestral contributions to both Mozart concertos on the programme. In the last movement of the Piano Concerto in C K246, for example, Hugh Tinney rounded off the phrase endings in the rondo theme; the orchestra snatched them off. Tinney's playing was neat, elegant and, I found, a bit too cerebral for this piece.

K246 is not one of Mozart's profound concertos; K491 in C minor is, and Tinney's thoughtful playing and fine tone had their rewards. In the first movement he played his own stylistically apt cadenza. The performance seemed to aim for a chamber-music type of intimacy. However, this is an extreme and rather under-powered view of a richly-scored piece which, in the early 19th century, was regarded as a paragon of Mozart the "romantic".