Northern Sinfonia, Hall One, The Sage Gateshead
THE North East's own professional chamber orchestra got the Sage's new classical season under way with a sparkling Mozart programme.
But it was a homage not just to a dead Austrian maestro but to one very much alive and well, the orchestra’s music director Thomas Zehetmair.
Clearly regarded with respect and affection by the Sinfonia players, he took the baton in a programme demonstrating a range of Mozart moods.
The Prague Symphony, No. 38, opened proceedings in front of a near-packed Hall One, its three movements building atmosphere as the pace quickened from the opening adagio to the climactic presto (a bit of musical terminology that surely needs no translation).
Then on came the orchestra’s principal horn, Peter Francomb, as the soloist for the Horn Concerto No. 2 which you’ll never convince me wasn’t composed on horseback.
Francomb is brilliant. As well as taking us along at a smooth and steady canter, he even found time - front of stage and centre - to turn and blow his nose surreptitiously as the orchestra picked up the theme.
After the interval came a change of mood with the Mass in C Minor, the orchestra backed by the accomplished Sinfonia Chorus and a quartet of soloists.
It’s a piece in which the sopranos seem to take the strain, singing to the roof and also down to their well-shod feet. Malin Christensson and Fflur Wyn scaled the heights and depths with two Samuels, Boden and Evans, offering gallant support in the tenor and bass roles respectively.
It is just as well the Sinfonia are good because they are the sum total of the 2011/12 classical season.
Anthony Sargent, general director of The Sage Gateshead, demonstrated the new lighting in Hall One before the concert.
It allows for a multi-coloured, Millennium Bridge effect but any question of extravagance was nipped in the bud with an explanation that the original lighting had had to be replaced in the summer in any case.
In the wake of an Arts Council cut, the Sage is being run as a tight ship. Some familiar faces are gone and the visiting orchestras – themselves less flush than they were – are a memory.
Mr Sargent admitted times are relatively hard at a reception afterwards but was keen to emphasise the positives.
After 10 years with the orchestra, during which he has led it to new heights, Zehetmair had signed up for another three years, until 2014, which was “fantastic”.
The Austrian is a shy man of few words but he praised the orchestra on Saturday night. The respect, it seems, is mutual.
With a varied programme ahead and concert strands to suit a range of tastes, the Sinfonia can make it a memorable season. Its players are going to be very busy.
