Cocktail hour with Rosemary Curtin

There is something special about chamber music being heard in a chamber vis-s-vis in a concert hall.

The Cocktail Hour series opened its ninth year with a Mozart concert arranged for a chamber ensemble and selected by Rosemary Curtin, the John and Jane Morschel Chair for viola in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

The concert was held in the Utzon Room of the Sydney Opera House at 6pm Saturday, January 31, with a capacity audience of 200, all seated from 2 to 10 metres from the performers.

The program was introduced by harpist and ABC Classic FM presenter, Genevieve Lang. After explaining she would not be playing her harp, she backgrounded the program, curated by Rosemary Curtain.

The three pieces chosen all had significant parts for the viola, which was discussed after the first piece, Mozart’s Horn Quintet K407.

The horn solo was played by Lucy Smith, a young mentee of the orchestra.  She gave a competent performance, albeit offering no threat to Barry Tuckwell. Mozart’s horn quintet is unique in his choice of instruments. One violin, played by Sophie Cole, who started playing at age 3; two violas, played by Rosemary Curtin and Anne-Louise Comerford, whose musical careers also started early at age 5. The fifth part, cello, was played by Fenella Gill, a late starter compared to the others, starting her musical career at seven.

The interchange between the ensemble was clearly a friendly and joyous one, with the melody being tossed from one side to the other and the tone set by the two violas providing a rich resonant sound. Between the horn quintet and the Adagio, Genevieve and Rosemary chatted about the significance of the key of E-flat major, especially in Mozart’s work. Mozart’s Adagio, K580a was left as a fragment without any accompaniment, so many people have done their own arrangements.

This performance was arranged by cor anglais player Alexandre Oguey, the SSO’s principal cor anglais, for five players, the other four  being violin, two violas, cello and double bass, played by the SSO’s David Campbell. The dominance of the bass and mezzo sections gave the piece a special richness, with the cor anglais providing a most enjoyable contrast. The final offering was Mozart’s Grande Sestetto Concertante, originally the Sinfonia Concertante scored for violin, viola and orchestra and arranged by the ubiquitous Anon for two violins, two violas, two cellos and double bass (making it a septetto vs sestetto).

The extra cello was played by Kristy Conrau. In the intimate space of the Utzon room, the double bass’s resonance was magnificently dominant, although the melodies are seemingly equally tossed between all players.

If this is a taste of the series, subscribers are in for a number of treats.