The Bath annual Mozartfest is in full swing and I’ve been to a couple of concerts. Last Friday I heard Barbara Bonney in the Assembly Rooms singing a Masonic cantata by Mozart, some Liszt songs (none in my repertoire), Berlioz’ Nuits d’été, and numbers from Viennese operettas. I heard her a couple of years back in a recital of Mozart and Schumann and her voice had a depth of tone now that I missed earlier. I might learn the Berlioz some time, though this performance didn’t really sell the songs to me – I think because I am used to the version with orchestra, although the piano accompaniment is the original one. The operetta was fun, though the two numbers by Léhar showed up the others, and again you lost something by not having orchestral accompaniment.
It didn’t sell out, unlike a masterclass Bonney gave last year in the same venue. I was surprised that more people wanted to hear her talk about singing than to hear her sing herself. But maybe TV cameras at the masterclass reduced the audience capacity.
Yesterday I was back at the Assembly Rooms to hear the Nash Ensemble. They played two unfamiliar works by Beethoven – a string trio from Op. 9 and the sextet Op 81b. I had never heard of this latter piece and felt that it wasn’t a great success; rather than an ensemble working together, the effect was of two horns muscling in on a string quartet who’d rather be left alone. It reminded me of the chess problems and studies which use an implausible combination of pieces you wouldn’t get in normal play. After the interval Schubert’s Octet showed how it should be done.
Some years ago I was invited to join the Bath Festival Chorus, which has given concerts at the Mozartfest and the Bath Festival. I’ve often regretted that I declined, because I’ve made several attempts to join it since and not got even as far as an audition or rehearsal, for various reasons. Either I couldn’t manage rehearsals, the choir was not taking on new members, or the Festival Chorus was not being used at the Festival in question. The last of these was what happened this time; the chorus was going to be involved in a performance of Haydn’s Creation last Sunday, which was later dropped from the programme.