Opera Scotland

Mozart Matinee 2025Scottish Chamber Orchestra

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An entertaining afternoon concert with Mozart's rarely heard 'Posthorn' Serenade in D major, KV320, divided up into sections, with trumpeter Peter Franks playing the posthorn solo.  The movements were interspersed with operatic arias performed by the excellent Irish mezzo Tara Erraught.

The conductor Peter Whelan, also Irish, spent several years as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's principal bassoon.  He has since developed a successful international career as a conductor specialising in music of the baroque era.

The clarinet obbligato in 'Parto, parto' was beautifully played by principal clarinettist Maximiliano Martín.  At last August's Edinburgh International Festival he and the SCO gave a concert performance of La clemenza di Tito in which Tara Erraught sang the higher part of Vitellia rather than Sesto. The lively conductor then was Maxim Emelyanychev.  At an earlier Festival in 2005, with a different cast, the excellent conductor was Sir Charles Mackerras, and a fine recording was issued.

The programme order was:

Adagio-Allegro and Menuetto

Aria 'Soffre il mio cor' Mitridate, rè di Ponto, KV87.

Concertante and Rondo

Aria 'Parto, parto' La clemenza di Tito, KV621.

Interval

Overture Die Schauspieldirektor, KV486.

Aria  'Temerari, sortite.....Come scoglio' Così fan tutte, KV588.

Andantino.

Aria 'E Susanna non vien......Dove sono' Le nozze di Figaro, KV492.

Aria 'Giunse alfin il momento.....Deh vieni, non tardar' Le nozze di Figaro, KV492.

Minuetto and Finale.

Encore - Aria 'Voi che sapete' Le nozze di Figaro, KV492.

While Tara Erraught is billed as a mezzo-soprano, her arias in the second half showed she had no difficulty with the soprano elements, whether as Fiordiligi or three separate characters in Figaro - The Countess and Susanna were programmed, with Cherubino slipped in as an encore, at least in St Andrews.  The two arias from Mitridate and Tito were far mors elaborate and ornamented.

While it was very well played, it is harder to say whether the overture to the one-act comedy The Impresario earned its place in the programme, opening the second half.