Spring Concert, Ripon Cathedral

ORCHESTRAL concerts in Ripon are always welcome but this one, with an all-Mozart programme, was obviously a popular choice, attracting a packed house even in the large cathedral space.

Presented as Ripon International Festival's spring concert, with the Royal Northern Sinfonia conducted by the festival’s artistic director Janusz Piotrowicz, it opened brightly with the all too brief Overture to Cosi fan tutte.

This was followed by the Clarinet Concerto with soloist Michael Whight who played a softer and more appropriate basset clarinet.

Whight’s sound throughout was beautiful and even his gentler sound could be heard clearly most of the time in a particularly musical performance.

In such a large space the acoustics are not helpful to an orchestra and it was noticeable that some of the subtlety of sound for which the Sinfonia is renowned was somewhat blurred.

Despite this, they supported the soloist very sympathetically, most noticeably in the soft passage during the Adagio.

I was fortunate enough to move seats for the second half and even a small change made a difference to the sound with flutes and oboes heard more clearly, if not the bassoons.

It’s tempting to imagine the impact Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 must have had at its first performance in Prague in 1787 as even now with music so much more freely available it still impresses.

The Sinfonia is clearly at home in music such as this and it must have been very satisfying for Piotrowicz to have such a responsive orchestra especially as he will be conducting them again in the cathedral for the opening concert of the festival on Saturday, September 5.

Peter Bevan