AMBACHE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
St John’s, Smith Square

IT’S terrifying to watch the Ambache Chamber Orchestra (right) in concert, as they plunge into action without the aid of a conductor.
How long before all these unsupervised musicians go horribly wrong? But in the end it turns out very right. I noticed players glancing at the hairdo of orchestra leader Gabrielle Lester, which moves rhythmically and significantly throughout the concert – that must serve as their secret pacemaker. The Ambache, who specialise equally in Mozart and the work of overlooked female composers, is celebrating its 21st birthday. The concert opens with the Mozart symphony of the same number, which shows off the orchestra’s great strength: its billowing string sound.
Next came a rarely performed Overture in C by Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix. Indeed it was the Ambache who gave it its rendition a few concerts back. It is a very charismatic piece, with the orchestra floating gently around a sustained horn note before it all gets going with some hugely enthusiastic kettle drumming.
The rest of the work sounds pleasantly like an orchestra arguing about what key they should be playing in before everything lollops like a breathless athlete to a close.
Less engaging is an aria, also by Ms Mendelssohn, and here receiving its English premiere. I wondered if the singing of soprano Sophia Michailidou was not a little too finely controlled, a little too mellifluous, given that the lyrics are: “You abandon me, oh God, I die, oh God.”
Even with that disparity aside, the work overstretches the relatively few ideas it possesses.
I always thought the strings had the best part in the first movement of Mozart’s 21st Piano Concerto, but here attention latches on to Diana Ambache’s playing, especially her inky runs and an impressionistic cadenza. The performance as a whole was all honey and light.