Mozart, Gordon/ OAE ***
St John’s Smith Square, 7th May 2016
It’s likely that Mozart never actually heard his Clarinet Concerto performed. His friend Anton Stadler gave the première in Prague in October 1791, less than two months before the composer’s early death. That fate, happily, has not been shared by Michael Gordon, who has heard Peter Whelan perform his new bassoon concerto Observations on Air four times this week, culminating in this London performance. The OAE paired it with Mozart’s classic under the title ‘Winds of Change’, although the new concerto in many ways draws its inspiration from the Age of Enlightenment itself.
Peter Whelan
© Martin Usborne
Read the full review on Bachtrack.