Review: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

Arts Festival

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Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Rene Jacobs.
Music by Haydn and Mozart. Town Hall, Wednesday

At the 2006 international festival we heard the authentic instrument orchestra The Age of Enlightenment, and the contrast between that and the Freiburg orchestra heard in this concert is as great as could be imagined.

Where the English orchestra, for all the sound of natural horns and baroque oboes, was still silky in the strings in the manner of a thoroughly informed modern instrument band, the Freiburg players unambiguously dragged the listener back to the 18th century with more sharply delineated authentic timbres in all sections.

Rene Jacobs, of course, had a great deal to do with things, for he is an unashamed advocate of the 18th- century "sound" as he perceives it and, coupled with the completely operatic approach to the classical repertoire he adopts, the results are immensely involving for musicians and audience alike.

And what energy and verve informed the performances of the two great symphonies that opened and closed this concert.

Haydn's Symphony No 91 isn't played that often but, after a performance like this, you would have to wonder why.

This was, quite simply, as fine a performance of a Haydn symphony as I have heard and, if all performances of his works were as fine as this, then his position as one of the greats of Western music would be better appreciated.

The Town Hall acoustic helped immeasurably, allowing the dramatic contrasts to tell, yet also gave great bloom to the strings, and depth and colour to the winds.

Jacobs is a famous Mozartean, yet I didn't think the performance of the Symphony No 38 "Prague" was quite on the same level.

His approach - very theatrical - suited this side of Mozart less well than it did the Haydn, and the finale, while a presto, was just a hint breathless.

In between we heard an astonishing performance of Mozart's Horn Concerto No 4, with its famous Rondo, on the natural horn, played by Teunis van der Zwart. Not only was it musically captivating, but also an amazing feat on a valveless instrument.

A great concert, with the encore - the finale from Haydn's "Oxford" Symphony - promising similar delights tonight.

- © Fairfax NZ News