I was lucky enough to receive tickets for the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the final concert of this year’s Bath Mozartfest. The performance started with Mozart’s Ave verum corpus, sung by the Bath Camerata. Having had little previous experience of classical music, the sheer quality of the sound coming from the orchestra astounded me at first. The music flowed beautifully and the balance between the Orchestra and the Choir was near perfect. They next played Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major, with Michael Collins on the Clarinet. Each movement was played brilliantly, Michael Collins’ skill on the Clarinet quite simply remarkable giving a consistently magnificent performance. The second movement was particularly good, it was slow, but in a good way, and very calming to listen to.

After an interval, the Orchestra returned and played Tchaikovsky’s Preghiera from Mozartina. The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw they would be playing a Tchaikovsky piece was that this was in fact Mozartfest, but it turns out that this a tribute to Mozart. Although I can hardly complain, as this was of the same brilliant standard as the previous performances, with hardly a thing that didn’t fit perfectly with the rest, and everyone perfectly in tune. But by far the highlight of the night was Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5 in E minor. It was as electrifying as the website of the Mozartfest claimed it to be, and contrasted with the rest of the performance in that it was much more exciting. Each movement seemed to top the previous one, and the Orchestra were as ever near perfect. It was in this performance that the conductor, Kirill Karabits, showed his true enthusiasm and passion for his job, although it did strike me, having never been to a classical concert before, as maybe slightly overenthusiastic.

Overall, this was a brilliant performance from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who played each piece beautifully.

Robert Mateer, aged 13.

Robert attended the concluding concert of the Bath Mozartfest on Saturday 20th November at Bath Forum. The London Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Kirill Karabits with Michael Collins on clarinet.

Mozart Ave verum corpus K618 Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A major K622 Tchaikovsky Preghiera from Mozartiana (Suite No 4 Op 61) Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5 in E minor Op 64