Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

PHIL REID/The Dominion Post

HUGE REPUTATION: Rene Jacobs' highly individual conducting revealed all of Haydn's greatness, and no little affection.

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Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Rene Jacobs with Gottfried von der Goltz (violin).
Music by Haydn and Mozart Town Hall, Thursday

The first of the two concerts Freiburg Baroque gave, under the exciting and highly individual baton of Rene Jacobs, was a concert that really validated the authentic music movement, and this second concert reinforced the impact of the first in dramatic fashion.

Jacobs has made for himself a huge reputation in the operas of Mozart, treating them with a vivid realism that has unsettled some. In the symphonies of Haydn and Mozart, his interpretations seem to see the works as operas without words.

This is particularly so in the Mozart symphonies and, if I find some of his ideas unsettling, I must say I think they were more convincing in the concert hall than in his rather closely balanced recordings.

In the Symphony No 41 in C "Jupiter", Jacobs strips away the reverence with which some conductors treat the work, making it a dramatic journey rather than an elegant requiem.

But it is a dramatic work, full of tension, finishing with a flourish from trumpets and tympani, and rarely would one experience a performance such as this, in which Jacobs forces the listener to experience the work anew, and the quality and character of the string playing in the slow movement will linger long in the memory.

The performance of the Haydn Symphony No 92 "Oxford" was a more straightforward affair. It was absolutely superb - grand and humorous, grave and witty as the music asked and, again as in the first concert, the orchestra under Jacobs revealed all of Haydn's greatness in playing of warmth and incisiveness, and no little affection.

The Violin Concerto No 5 "Turkish" is a product of the young Mozart's time in Salzburg, best known for the "alla turca" section in the finale and, between the symphonies, Gottfried von der Goltz, the joint artistic director of the orchestra, gave it a wonderfully articulate and stylish performance, beautifully backed by the orchestra.

The encore was the finale from the "Prague" Symphony and, as in the first concert, it was too fast for my taste, but no matter; it was an exciting finale to two memorable concerts - the highlights of the festival for me.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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