There was more than a touch of déjà vu at work this evening: the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment chopping up a classical symphony and splicing in operatic arias performed by a mezzo-soprano. Last February, it was Ádám Fischer doing the honours, twinkling through Mozart’s Prague Symphony, acting as a foil for Stéphanie d’Oustrac. A year on and the hyperactive Italian, Giovanni Antonini, took over the OAE podium for the four movements of Mozart’s Symphony no. 40 in G minor, interleaved with arias sung by Czech mezzo Magdalena Kožená. It’s clearly a recipe that works.
The “traditional” concert format of overture–concerto–symphony is relatively recent. In Mozart’s day, it was quite usual to split up a symphony and throw in any number of works into the mix, including operatic arias sung by a celebrated performer. A change in programming began when Haydn, irritated that latecomers were missing his works, would shunt the entire symphony into the second half. Breaking up Mozart 40, according to oboist Daniel Bates in his spoken introduction after the interval, allowed the players to regroup and attack the symphony with even more vigour.
There was vigour aplenty in the OAE’s account – happily, the version including clarinets – balancing sweetness and abrasiveness in the Molto allegro opening. Antonini, frequently holding his arms aloft like an eagle searching for a thermal, was entertaining to watch, soaring, swooping, crouching low. There was always a sense of purpose in the Andante and the Minuet was nicely pointed. The flute did not always sing out cleanly in the invigorating finale, where the string assault was almost percussive.
Magdalena Kožená doesn’t always look entirely at home on the concert platform and there were early signs of insecurity here: mannered hand movements and a trill that lacked fluency in the alternative version of Susanna’s aria from Le nozze di Figaro. Seated in front of the conductor during a particularly ferocious Dance of the Furies, a look of alarm crossed her face more than once.