Mozart Great Mass in C Minor
Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Chorus
Conductor: Tess Jackson
Soloists: Olivia Warburton, Daniel Vening, Anita Monserrat, Nicholas Mulroy
Bold Tendencies, Peckham.
So I made it, at last, to London’s most famous car park redeveloped as an arts venue and celebrating its 20th anniversary – on this occasion with Mozart operatically bouncing off the concrete.
The Great Mass in C Minor dates from 1782, when Mozart was 26 – by a strange bit of serendipity, the same age as Tess Jackson who conducted this unusual performance. The youth of Europe is on fire, as Shakespeare didn’t quite say.
Highlights included evocative work from Olivia Warburton, soprano, in the Kyrie and an arresting opening to the Gloria with some beautiful filigree playing beneath Benedicimus te. I also admired the choral depth (Chorus Master, James Platt) in the Credo and the intricate double fugue, Hosanna in Excelsis, which was delivered with vocal panache and some splendid trombone work.
Jackson is a fascinating conductor. Energetic in action, she also has the authority and expertise of many a conductor three times her age. This car park is, inevitably, a challenging acoustic to work in but Jackson managed to balance the sound pretty well most of the time – although I was sitting three quarters of the way back under the low concrete roof.
I commend Bold Tendencies for everything that they’ve achieved in twenty years – inclusive arts projects for all at every possible level. On the other hand I have to don my Emperor’s New Clothes hat and ask whether this is really a suitable venue for this kind of concert? I found the ambient noise – trains which sound as though they’re in the room, aircraft, traffic and Saturday night street life – very intrusive, as I’m sure the performers must have done.
Despite this, both orchestra and choir were in fine form and all four soloists were charismatic especially in the Benedictus when they unite as a quartet.
Pleasing effort all round.
