Joan Alexander (soprano)
Ida Haendel (violin)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
(Leader, Paul Beard )
Conductor, Sir Adrian Boult
Brahms-Mozart
From the Royal Albert Hall. London
Mozart, himself a Freemason, wrote the Masonic Funeral Music in Vienna in 1785, on the death of two distinguished brothers of the order. It is no mere occasional piece; its wailing violins and dark-toned wind instruments produce a powerful effect, suggesting a ' solemn and slow procession' passing on-its way.
Exsultate, Jubilate is not a motet in the usual sense of the word, but rather a cantata for solo voice and orchestra. Written in Milan in 1773, when Mozart was seventeen, the work was designed for Rauzzini, a castrato singer who had taken part in Mozart's opera Lucio Silla in the previous year. There is a lively opening movement, a short recitative, a slow movement set to the words ' Tu virginum corona,' and a finale consisting of the well-known ' Alleluia,' often sung separately. The work, whkh offers brilliant opportunities to the singer, resembles a miniature concerto.
Like his Second Symphony, which is in the same key of D major, Brahms' Violin Concerto was written at Portschach, an attractive village in the Austrian Alps. He had, of course, Joachim in mind when planning the work. and frequently asked the great violinist's advice; though in the end a number of Joachim's suggestions were not adopted. Nevertheless, it was he who played the Concerto for the first time, at Leipzig in 1879, with Brahms conducting. Some years later Hans von Biilow declared that the Concerto was written against the violin. Huberman, who early in his career played the work to Brahms, capped this remark by saying that it ' is neither against the violin, nor for violin with orchestra; but it is a concerto for violin against orchestra-and the violin wins.' The opening movement, generally smooth and pastoral in style, has many elements of drama, and the soloist's powers are finely exploited. Serenity of mood and intricate decoration mark the slow movement; and dancing rhythms the gypsy-like finale. Harold Rutland