On the second Saturday morning of the Mozartfest I heard the Belcea Quartet perform Haydn (op. 77 no.1), Ravel’s quartet and Mozart’s clarinet quartet. The highlight of this was the wonderful stillness of some of the quiet passages in the Ravel. I enjoy these Saturday morning concerts though it was a long time since I’ve been to a concert where there were so many latecomers (perhaps the traffic was bad).
The final Mozartfest concert was the Philharmonia, conducted by Leif Segerstam, in the Forum. If you don’t know the collection of remarks made by Leif Segerstam in rehearsal, go away and read it, because it is much more entertaining than this blog. I’m not very fond of the Forum as a venue – I always feel I’m miles away from the performers – and when the London orchestras visit I can’t help wondering how many deps are in the ranks. But my daughter and I enjoyed the programme of the Egmont overture, Mozart’s piano concerto in B flat (although I felt the solo part was rather staccato) and Tchaikovsky 4.