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CPE Bach, Rameau & Mozart

CPE Bach
String Symphony in G Wq122/1

Rameau Les Grâces instruisent la Statue from 'Pygmalion'; Chaconnes from 'Platée' & from 'Hippolyte et Aricie'

Mozart Violin Concerto in D K. 221; Symphony No. 29 in A K. 201

The Wallfisch Band
Elizabeth Wallfisch classical violin
Gustav Leonhardt conductor

Wigmore Hall 13 June 2010

"Seats will surely be at a premium for an appearance by living legend Gustav Leonhardt, who was an early music pioneer when such a movement was all but embryonic."

Well, there was only a moderate response to this exhortation, Wigmore Hall far from full for a very special concert as is, I suspect, every appearance by Elizabeth Wallfisch's unique training orchestra. She explains on YouTube her training methods with a core group of six "masters" and continually changing "apprentices". No compromise; this is professional baroque music-making at the highest level.

Gustav Leonhardt, conducting with gesturally economical precision, was in charge for superbly stylish accounts of CPE Bach's arrestingly unpredictable string symphony and some glorious Rameau, in which the trio of two oboes and bassoon was especially delectable, as too were the baroque flutes of Rafael Ruiberriz de Torres Fernandez (!) and his colleague. [See on line Leonhardt teaching and playing.]

For Mozart horns, but no flutes (his unfavourite instrument). Elizabeth Wallfisch directed from the violin Mozart's lesser-known concerto of 1775, a special favourite of hers, and the high spot of a memorable concert given with huge commitment and assured expertise from all concerned; the Wigmore Hall's platform full, its acoustic contributing greatly to the pleasures of the evening.

Look out for future appearances of The Wallfisch Band, and for their CPO CDs*.

Peter Grahame Woolf

* The German Recording Company CPO, of world renown for its special and unusual repertoire, is recording with the Wallfisch Band, and Elizabeth Wallfisch as soloist, the complete violin concertos of Telemann, many of which have not yet been recorded.