::: Nicholas Collon : review :::

The Times / January 2011 ****
Richard Morrison

Watching Colin Davis conveying his vast experience of interpreting Mozart to the budding professionals of the Aurora Orchestra - the entire band young enough to be his grandchildren - would have been a fascinating experience. But it wasn't to be. British music's most revered senior citizen fell ill (mercifully a passing ailment). So, with the concert going out live on Radio 3, the Aurora's founder, Nicholas Collon, found himself filling giant boots at very short notice.

To the relief of those of us who have just nominated him for The Times Breakthrough Award (vote early and vote often . . .) Collon acquitted himself well. True, there were little things in the Linz Symphony that betrayed a young man's inexperience. A more dogmatic and seasoned conductor might have imposed more unanimous phrasing and articulation across the band, characterised the quicksilver mood-changes more pungently and dug deeper into the emotional undercurrents of the slow movement. But far outweighing these quibbles were the positives. The music was played with exhilarating verve and alertness. The sound of the orchestra had a properly ceremonial swagger, yet this was no old-fashioned, heavyweight stomp through Mozart. Rhythms were clean cut, woodwind solos elegantly shaped and textures beautifully pellucid. Whatever other qualities Collon possesses, he has certainly gathered together an exciting bunch of young players. I feel about them what audiences in the early 1960s must have sensed about the Academy of St Martin in the Fields: that this is an ensemble talented and ambitious enough to wrench the initiative from more established chamber orchestras. It's a generational turnover, and very healthy for musical life.

Thomas Gould, the Aurora's leader, was given his personal chance to shine in the Violin Concerto in A major, K219. Initially he seemed introspective, as if unwilling to impose himself too much on the music. But as this delightful concerto progressed his gentle, genial musicality won me over. And I also admired Fflur Wyn's brave stab at the monstrous requirements of the aria Vorrei spiegarvi, although her smallish but flexible soprano voice sounded rather more assured in the gorgeous Nehmt meinen Dank.

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