Divertimento in F, K138 - Mozart
Servant, for strings - Graham Fitkin
Simple Symphony, Op 4 - Britten
Concerto for Two Violins in A, RV522 - Vivaldi
Serenade for Strings in C,Op 48 - Tchaikovsky
The London Chamber Orchestra stands up to play, with the exception of the cellos and double-bass. At the players sway it's a bit like watching a grove of young trees in the wind, though Christopher Warren-Green, who both plays violin and directs, swivels and moves in a way no tree could manage. I do not know how much the standing posture contributes to the music but the performance was notable for its liveliness and infectious sense of enjoyment. The programme was light-hearted in intention but the works in it are not often played with such a combination of rhythmic bounce and neatly pointed phrasing.
Britten's Simple Symphony is not a great work but the players were so faithful to its requirements - boisterous, playful, sentimental and frolicsome in turn - that it was great fun to listen to. Mozart's Divertimento might have been originally written for string quartet and Fitkin's Servant is an orchestration of a string quartet; like the Britten they benefited from the group's combination of the independence of the small ensemble and the expansive nature of a body of sixteen string players. Servant was ferociously rhythmic in inspiration and the rhythms overlapped with episodes of a sedater nature in the most diverting fashion.
The second half of Friday's concert in the NCH offered a showy and sparkling performance of Vivaldi's concerto for two violins in A, and Tchaikovsky's serenade for strings in a suitably heart-felt reading.
