W.A.Mozart e il Corno di Bassetto. Delta Wind Consort at Palazzo dei Capitani, Malcesine, Italy, Tuesday 19 giugno 2012 – ore 21:00
Reviewed by Frank McKone
Though
I am not a technical expert in acoustics, nor qualified to properly
analyse the Delta Wind Consort’s interpretation of Mozart’s music, I
felt I could not pass up the opportunity to say that I have surely found
a solution to the Fitters’ Workshop dilemma. Import, holus bolus, the 17th Century Palazzo dei Capitani from Malcesine.
At
ground level is a great hall which opens onto a neat French style
garden with steps providing access to boarding boats, admittedly on a
350 metre deep glacial Lake Garda, rather than a rather less impressive
Kingston Foreshore – but you can’t have everything.
Upstairs,
with floor to ceiling windows looking out across the lake to the high
mountains just a bit bigger than Monte Ainslie, the concert hall has
huge timbers breaking up the ceiling to create what seemed to me to be
just the right acoustic for the wide register of sound generated by the
three corni di bassetto led by Ferrante Casellato, with Raffaele Magosso and Antonio Pozzato.
It was a delight to hear these instruments of the clarinet family work so well together in selected pieces, mainly arias, from Le nozze di Figaro KV 492, Il Flauto magico KV 620, Così fan tutte KV 588 and Don Giovanni KV527. Of course, the encore just had to be a whimsical Pa pa pa from the Magic Flute, but the piece I felt brought out the sense of musical history was the complete Divertimento in Fa magg. KV 229.
It was here that the description of the Delta Wind Consort as un gruppo cameristico came to the fore. The light surface of the divertimento
was underlaid by touches of dark colouring, and it was easy to imagine
Wolfgang and Constanza testing out the music ready to perform in places
like this small palazzo in Malcesine.
Behind the
presentation by the Delta Wind Consort was the Benacus Chamber Orchestra
Association, formed in 2009 to provide opportunities for young
professional players to perform in venues around northern Italy, working
in cooperation with the local organisations, in this case the Commune
di Malcesine Assessorato all cultura, and under the patronage of the
Provincia di Verona. The link is www.benacuschamberorchestra.com/ .
And
the Palazzo, at least in its current manifestation in Malcesine, even
has a built-in English pub and café, run by a north country English
couple who provide huge pots of Tetley tea – something wonderful indeed
in 30 degree summer temperatures. Perhaps we should import the lot as a
going concern.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
