Mozart: Le Concert d’Astrée/Haïm ****
Wigmore Hall, 15th November 2016
Taking operatic tunes as inspiration for Harmoniemusik was nothing new in Mozart’s time. He even references his own The Marriage of Figaro in the supper scene of Don Giovanni, where Leporello is sneakily trying to stuff down some pheasant pinched from his master’s table when the wind band wheezes into Figaro’s “Non più andrai”. Directed by Emmanuelle Haïm, French period instrument ensemble Le Concert d’Astrée served up a few choice cuts of FigaroHarmoniemusik themselves before a delicious main course of the Gran Partita – tasty fare played with a distinctly Gallic accent.
Emmanuelle Haïm
© Opéra de Lille | Simon Gosselin
Read the full review on Bachtrack.