When Peter Stangel serves up a program of “favorite pieces” with his pocket philharmonic orchestra, it doesn’t always have to be deconstructed ham from the symphonic repertoire, finely filleted down to its structural framework. Not even with Corona’s annoyingly “deconstructed” audience cast. Now he’s doing the reverse too. In the concert in the Allerheiligen Hofkirche he brought Schönberg’s six small piano pieces op. 19 from 1911, miniatures of the first twelve-tone period, into orchestral format. On his, of course, with twelve pocket philharmonic players.
For her, he liberated the brittle piano writing into timbre tableaux with late-Romantic flair, thus putting the opus in a whole new light. Especially the third piece, where a bass line, rare in Schönberg’s dodecaphony, along with diatonic echoes create familiar listening contours. There the cello and double bass also indulged with ear lust, and the wind instruments dabbed delicately to bitingly. There was also a transcription for Mozart in a larger sound format. Stangel arranged the Divertimento in D major, KV 334, with six movements, the most extensive in Mozart’s oeuvre, for his larger ensemble. The line-up of six instrumentalists has now become eleven. Although he omitted the second horn of the original, there were many attractive pieces for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and flute.
With this instrumentation, not only did the two minuets gain sparkling concertante expressiveness, but the contemplative A major Adagio also acquired significant depth. In the final rondo, the excellent concertmaster Angelika Lichtenstern shone on her violin with solo brilliance. However, more often drowned in the animated tutti of an ensemble that far transcended its “pocket size” in terms of sound. As a reward for the applause, half the evening’s program was played again as an encore.