The
London Festival Orchestra was established in 1980 when Ross
Pople, then principal cellist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra,
gathered some of London’s finest musicians to create his own
orchestra. The popularity of the orchestra grew and Pople left
the BBCSO to become the LFO’s full-time Director.
Johann
Christian Bach was the eleventh son of the great master Johann
Sebastian Bach and the youngest to live to maturity. He received
his early musical instruction with his father and, after 1750,
with his half-brother Carl Philipp Emanuel, who was 21 years
his senior. In 1754, Johann Christian went to Italy, where his
teachers included Padre Martini of Bologna. In Milan he was
made Cathedral organist in 1760 where he became known as the
‘Milan’ Bach.
In
1762, Johann Christian became known as the ‘London’ Bach when
he entered the service of Queen Charlotte, the wife of the English
monarch George III. It was while he was music master to the
Queen that Johann Christian met and instructed the young Mozart,
in 1764. Many scholars judge him to be one of the most important
influences on Mozart, who learned from him how to produce brilliant
and attractive surface texture in his music. Johann Christian’s
works include symphonies, concertos, chamber works, piano pieces,
sacred works and thirteen operas.
Musicologist
Ernest Warburton has painstakingly compiled a list of Johann
Christian Bach’s Symphonies and Symphonies Concertantes
which provides a useful numbering system. The Symphonie
Concertante is a mixture of the Symphony and the Concerto
but for more than one soloist. Warburton has discovered that
Johann Christian wrote eighteen of them. Only four of these
follow the French galante two-movement layout. Most close
with a minuet or some other mellow movement. All eighteen
display the melodic style of the Mannheim-Paris Symphonie
Concertante, whose popularity spread to England.
They were written during the 1770s and represent the English
School of the late eighteenth century. Generally, Johann Christian’s
accompanying orchestra would consist of two oboes, or flutes,
two horns and strings.
In
three movements the Symphonie Concertante in G major is a joyous
work seeming to hark back to the Mediterranean sunshine of his
Italian years. Johann Christian composed the three movement
E flat work for the unusual combination of two clarinets, a
bassoon and orchestra. Arguably his most popular Symphonie Concertante
is the A major score for violin, cello and orchestra, that was
published in 1773. It comprises two easy-going movements and
is the most intimate of all the works here. The Symphonie Concertante
in E flat for pairs of violins, violas, oboes and horns with
a cello is titled as a ‘Concerto’ in the undated manuscript
score.
These
charming and frequently enjoyable works can occasionally seem
lacking in variety and sometimes feel overlong. However, Ross
Pople, the soloists and players of the LFO are completely at
home in these delightful early Classic-period scores. The soloists’
fluent playing is as smooth as silk and most compelling. I was
most impressed with their security of ensemble and the appealing
timbre of the velvety woodwind and silvery-toned strings.
The
recording is first class and the overall balance is good. The
adequate booklet notes are reasonably informative. High quality
performances of attractive works. Worth exploring.
Michael
Cookson
