Product: Faure, Franck, Bizet & Saint-Saens
Rating: 5.0
Splendid Performances
Frans Brüggen has been a major presence in the "authentic" and period instrument performance movement for decades. His CD recordings, including outstanding interpretations of Beethoven's Eroica and Mozart's Requiem with the Dutch Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, are sought out by his fans. I was curious to see him in action and found the experience of this 1991 Lugano film highly rewarding. The Lebrun Oboe Concerto is not very memorable, but pleasing to the ear, and the soloist Omar Zoboli is excellent. The concert's highlight is Mozart's Haffner Symphony, presented with all repeats, in a gripping, dramatic and what might be called "semi-authentic" performance. Brüggen has his musicians, the very fine Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, on their toes throughout, playing with minimal vibrato, sharp accents in the brass and the timpani, and a stylishly lean classicist string intonation. On all accounts, this is a bargain as well as a collector's piece.