Czech Philharmonic

Following up on the highly succesful concerts at Carnegie Hall last weekend, see http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/arts/music/ 25CARN.html (I managed to attend the concert on 2/23: Prokofiev's 'Meeting of the Volga and the Don' and his Sixth symphony plus a highly charged Shostakovich VC1 with Vadim Repin), the orchestra had another successful concert under Ashkenazy tonight at the San Diego Civic Theater:

Dvorak: Carnival Overture Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Lukas Vondracek, piano) Rachmaninoff: Second Symphony

The Dvorak Overture was given a very spirited performance and was followed by an electrifying performance of the Prokofiev 1st concerto at the hands of the 16-year old Vondracek who certainly has the measure of this work, both in terms of technique and idiomatic interpretation. After a thunderous ovation, Vondracek surprised the audience by playing an unusual encore: a transcription of Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Prince and the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker. This was the evening's magical moment. Vondracek combined playing of almost orchestral sonority (he has a big sound) and hushed poetry, especially at the end of the dance, that left many in the audience, myself included, out of breath. He is certainly an artist to watch in the future.

After intermission, Ashkenazy conducted the Rachmaninoff 2nd without a score. I have always enjoyed his recording of the work with the Concertgebouw and tonight's performance showed that this work is very close to his heart. He played the symphony complete and achieved a reading that was broad and expressive in the opening movement, bright and muscular in the second and last movements, and lyrical but unsentimental in the popular third movement. After another thunderous ovation, he concluded the concert with a Rachmaninoff encore: an orchestral transcription of Vocalise.

Two years ago the orchestra performed a great concert in San Diego under Ashkenazy (Dvorak's 7th followed by a marvelous Prokofiev 5th). Tonight's concert showed that he has forged an effective partnership with the orchestra, whose marvelous string and woodwind sound suited the Russian repertoire quite well.

All in all, a great evening. Look out for Lukas Vondracek.

Ramon Khalona

I heard the CPO in London and it was a great concert - La Mer and some other stuff. It's a terrific orchestra and the musicians really PLAY! a few days earlier I heard the Dresden Staatskapelle and nearly fell asleep - smooth, smooth, zzzzz

<Banging head against wall> I <bang> missed <bang> the <bang> Czech Philharmonic? </Banging head against wall>

ARRRRRRRGHHHH!

Dave Cook

[Many vivid details snipped.]

Thanks, Ramon for this most interesting report. I heard the same Prokofiev/Shostakovich concert here at Carnegie, and Repin was just fantastic - playing with a huge tone in the violin concerto. He must have received 4-5 ovations.

Love that Prokofiev, never heard of Vondracek. But anyone doing charming encores like that clearly has a bit of a sense of humor.

I also love that Rachmaninoff symphony, as well as Ashkenazy's version with the Concertgebouw. What I admire is Ashkenazy's momentum; he really paces the piece, phrasing it beautifully, never over-emphasizing. And something about his sparkle - for lack of a better word at the moment - is a good mix with this piece, which can sound slightly treacly in the wrong hands. Sure wish they had brought that to New York.

I'd like to put forward the proposition that if one - as a conductor - were offered the Berlin Phil or the Czech Phil, one might have plenty of reasons for choosing the latter.

Certainly, one would have an easier act to follow with the Czechs.

What? They didn't bring their brass?

a few days

What? They didn't bring their brass?>

Funny you should mention the brass section - if there was one area in particular where the Czech Phil walked all over the Dresden it was the brass, and particularly the trumpets.

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I love the sound of the Czech Philharmonic woodwind section.