Parrott proves the perfect stand-in

May 26 2007 By The Journal

As recent principal conductor of the London Mozart Players, Andrew Parrott seemed just the man to stand in for the Northern Sinfonia's indisposed music director, Thomas Zehetmair.

And though best known for his work with period instrument orchestras, Parrott will no doubt have known in advance that this modern instrument orchestra has just the right touch for Mozart's music.

If not, he soon found out with Sonata da chiesa no 14. Short and to the point, the church sonatas show Mozart adept at injecting his own character into an archaic form, the orchestra sounding fresh and alive to Parrott's clean-lined interpretation.

Stravinsky, too, was an original thinker; his ballet score Apollon musagète (Apollo, Leader of the Muses) a gift to string orchestras. Again, Parrott got precision, elegance and lush expressiveness from the orchestra before the Sinfonia Chorus and a quartet of vocal soloists took to the stage for Mozart's Mass in C minor.

Written in celebration of his wife's recovery from illness, the mass was first performed with Mozart conducting and Constanze singing one of the soprano parts. We were meant to hear Amy Freston, but like Zehetmair, she too was taken ill; her replacement, Rebecca Bottone, never missing a beat in a winning performance.

Soprano Johannette Zomer, tenor Andrew Staples and baritone Quentin Hayes made up a satisfyingly unified ensemble, the orchestra and chorus in fine form for Parrott's nicely detailed and dramatically driven reading.

The programme is repeated tonight at 7.30pm. Tickets on (0191) 443-4661 or visit ticketoffice@ thesagegateshead.org

Thomas Hall