Having opened their 2023–24 season earlier this month at the NHK Hall with a flamboyant all-Richard Strauss programme with Chief Conductor Fabio Luisi, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo fielded much smaller forces for their all-Mozart programme in their monthly Suntory Hall series. The guest conductor was Ton Koopman, making his third appearance with the NHKSO. He also conducted Mozart in his previous appearances, so there is obviously a trusted relationship between them in this repertoire.
It was a very sunny programme, all in the major key: sandwiched between the A major Symphony no. 29 and the E flat major Symphony no. 39 was the D major Flute Concerto, with the NHKSO’s long-standing principal flute Hiroaki Kanda stepping out into the limelight. There must be a certain amount of pressure to perform as soloist among your peers, but if he had felt it he didn’t show it, and there was warmth and support from the orchestra. The sound of his modern, wooden flute, on which he usually plays in the orchestra too, seemed particularly suited to this concerto. It’s not the kind of sound that comes straight at you but a warm sound that radiates around the hall.
As soloist, Kanda actively led the ensemble, Koopman seeming happy to take a back seat, coming to the fore only when some momentum was required. Opening the solo section of the first movement with a flourish, Kanda brought out the themes with clarity and displayed fine control in technical passages. The second movement was delicately shaped, and the Rondo finale was vibrant and joyous, with lively dialogue with the orchestra. The cadenzas were Kanda's own, created in Mozart’s style. It was an honest and well-grounded performance without any showiness. As an encore, Kanda gave us his arrangement of Papageno’s aria “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” from The Magic Flute (well, what else?), apparently based on a contemporary duet version.
Earlier, the concert opened with the Symphony no. 29, a youthful and carefree work from Mozart’s late teens. Written for oboes, horns and strings, it is an intimate and elegant work that would have delighted the aristocratic audience of the Salzburg court, and Koopman’s leisurely tempo and a genteel approach reminded us of the work’s roots. I don’t think Koopman had insisted on a period approach, although the string players were using less vibrato. At times it could have done with crisper articulation, but he certainly brought out the courtly elegance of the music, with particular focus on dynamic contrast and tonal nuances.
In the second half, we heard his Symphony no. 39, the sunniest of his final three symphonies written in 1788. This is my favourite Mozart symphony; my benchmark live experience of the work was Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in Tokyo in 1991(!) so personal expectations were set high. Happily, I wasn’t disappointed. There was grandeur and vibrancy in the outer movements (with spontaneous embellishments from the timpani), delicate harmonic shadings in the slow movement, and a delightful lilt in the Menuetto and Trio. Koopman injected the orchestra with joyful energy, and the players responded with enthusiasm. True, I missed the rustic charm of period woodwinds, but Hiroaki Kanda, back in his orchestral seat, and Kenji Matsumoto on his clarinet were the next best thing. It was a performance that reaffirmed my love for the work.
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