Bericht über das Konzert von I. Moscheles in London am 7. April 1826

MR. MOSCHELES’ CONCERT.

Mr. Moscheles gave his annual concert last night at the Argyll-rooms, the spacious area of which was crowded to overflow with fashionable company, musical connoisseurs, and the leading members of the profession. As a performer on the pianoforte, Mr. Moscheles must be placed in the very first rank of his art; and if we consider the variety of power he displays, there are few names, indeed, which deserve to stand on the same level with his. In the neatness, and rapidity of his execution he leaves nothing to be desired, and combines with those qualities a graceful elegance of expression which was considered a novelty in the art till others acquired it by imitating him, and by the practice of his compositions. As a composer, too, he must be allowed to possess great talent, and his management of the fanciful embroidery of a simple subject, without destroying the melody, forms in him a peculiar merit. His first piece in the performances of last night was a MS. concerto, by Hummel, played for the first time in this country. As a composition with the exception of the slow movement, it was below mediocrity, and the accompaniments, in the true German style, too often overpowered and destroyed the brilliancy of the principal instrument. In the second act of the concert Mr. Moscheles, however, gave a piece in which his full talent both as a composer and performer was displayed. He designates it his „Recollections of Ireland; a fantasia for the piano-forte, with orchestral accompaniments.“ The plan of the composition, if it may be said to have a plan, is wild and irregular. Like the bee roving from flower to flower, he snatches in succession well-known beautiful national airs of the sister kingdom, and clothes them, without destroying their beauty, in the richest yet most characteristic decoration. Each passage confessed the hand of the master, and the performance, which was just of the proper length to keep the attention unimpaired, was honoured at its conclusion with the most lively applause. But Mr. Moscheles did not, as other great professors have done, trust to himself for the sole attraction. M. Von Weber, who presided together with Sir G. Smart, conducted the orchestra in several of his own compositions, consisting of the noble overture to his opera of Euryanthe, equally striking and original, though less known than the celebrated overture to Freischutz; an air, with recitative, charmingly sung, by Madame Caradori; and a grand Scene from Freischutz, by Mr. Braham. M. Von Weber did not himself perform, but directed by his hand the movement of the orchestra, the spirit and precision of which evinced the animation his presence inspired. A concertante for two violoncellos, by the celebrated Lindley and his son, was interesting, from the relationship of the performers, and the anxious desire evinced by the veteran to raise the estimation of his pupil with the public to the same rank as his own. Mr. Furstenau gave some variations to a Scotch air on the flute, with distinctness and rapidity of articulation more remarkable than the truth of his intonation. The second part was opened by a Concertante for two horns by the well-known Schunke and his brother (the first appearance of the latter), which was cleverly acted, but inefficient. That instrument must not be allowed to desert its station in the orchestra for concerto playing, to which its mechanism is wholly inadequate. A fantasia on the violin by Mr. Kiesewetter; a cavatina from Rossini’s opera of l’Italiana in Algeri, finely sung by Madame Cornega; with some glees and concerted pieces, in which Madame Caradori, Miss Goodall, Miss Betts, Signors Torri, Pellegrini, and De Begnis performed, completed the bill of fare for the night; and ample as it was, none of the audience appeared to have „excess of it.“