Prague's Week

Charles T. Downey, NSO and Washington Chorus offer deeply felt performance of Dvorak’s ‘Stabat Mater’
Washington Post, March 23, 2012

Dvořák, Stabat mater dolorosa, Bavarian Radio Symphony, R. Kubelik

Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra have run quite a marathon this month. They have performed a slew of concerts for the Kennedy Center’s festival celebrating the music of Budapest, Prague and Vienna. It all culminated in their Thursday night performance of Antonin Dvorak’s “Stabat Mater Dolorosa,” Op. 58.

The NSO’s three main contributions to the festival have all featured vocal works, with the Dvorak following two operas (“Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” and “Fidelio,” representing Budapest and Vienna, respectively). Critic Kurt Honolka has called Dvorak’s choral masterpiece “the first great sacred work in Czech music,” making it quite an appropriate choice to represent Prague. While the other works had not been heard since the 1970s, the NSO last performed the “Stabat Mater” as recently as 1992, when it was new to the orchestra. [Continue reading]

Antonín Dvořák, Stabat mater dolorosa (score, op. 58)
National Symphony Orchestra, Washington Chorus
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

PREVIOUSLY:
Fidelio (March 17) and Duke Bluebeard's Castle (March 9)
Robert R. Reilly, Choral Arts Society of Washington (March 17, 2008)

Last week, David Patrick Stearns published an assessment of Eschenbach's tenure in Washington so far, in the Philadelphia Inquirer. One of the questions he posed was where the interesting programming Eschenbach has brought to the NSO was when he was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a rocky period to say the least. The difference has been, according to Stearns, that his additional position as music director of the Kennedy Center "means he is less likely to have ambitious, big-budget plans overruled -- which reportedly was the case in Philadelphia." So far, it must be said, Philadelphia's loss is Washington's gain.

Intensity Over Subtlety: NSO Excels at Stabat Mater

Many thanks to Robert R. Reilly for this review from the Kennedy Center.

Thursday evening Christoph Eschenbach, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Chorus, and four outstanding soloists offered a powerful Lenten reflection at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. They performed a highly charged account of Antonin Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, one of the great settings of the medieval poem depicting Mary’s pierced heart on Good Friday and the pleas of intercession made through it.

Almost four years to the day, on March 16^th, 2008, I heard the Stabat Mater performed by the Choral Arts Society Choir and Orchestra, under conductor Norman Scribner, also at the Kennedy Center. (Review on ionarts here.) The Choir had been outstanding, but the soloists were lacking and placing an intermission after the fourth movement was a strategic error. It’s hard to sustain elemental sorrow, interrupted by a trip to the concession stand. Surely, it is not too much to ask an audience to sit for an hour and a half for this 10-movement masterpiece.

The present performance suffered from neither of these impediments. The Chorus was exceptional again, and the work was performed by the four soloists with intense emotional commitment in an uninterrupted concert. The NSO easily eclipsed the Choral Arts Society Orchestra, as they should.

A.Dvořák, Stabat Mater, Sawallisch / CzPO / Benacková, Wenkel, Dvorsky, Rootering Supraphon

Eschenbach and his forces projected an enormous volume of sound and everything was played full bore. The grief was almost shouted out. The first movement, twice as long as the next longest, was played with such force and passion, one wondered where the performance could go from there. In the full recapitulation that closes the first movement, the answer was: through the roof—which is where it went in the closing movement as well.

In five of the eight middle movements, the soloists are the key. Soprano Anne Schwanewilms, contralto Nathalie Stutzmann, tenor Steve Davislim, and the base Burak Bilgili all excelled. Because of the all-out playing and singing by the orchestra and chorus, they more or less had to fend for themselves in projecting over the massive volume of sound. They generally succeeded in doing this; only Nathalie Stutzmann showed slight strain, and even then the extra effort added to the dramatic effect. Anne Schwanewilms’ soprano voice is extraordinarily powerful without any coarseness. Her singing was exquisite. The great gravity of Turkish bass Burak Bilgili made his an outstanding contribution. Some of the most thrilling moments of the evening were when the four functioned as a quartet against the gorgeous choral singing, with orchestral support. This was high drama, indeed.

Perhaps this performance could have benefited from more subtlety. But that might have come at the expense of the incredible intensity Eschenbach and his forces achieved. I have heard Eschenbach elicit great subtlety from the NSO, especially in his debut performance with the Verdi Requiem. But as I learned from his riveting performance of the Bruckner Ninth in February, this conductor particularly excels in making the transcendent perceptible – to make you tremble when the heavens are riven. He did it again on Thursday Night.

The Stabat Mater will be repeated Saturday evening, March 24^th, at 8PM.

Classical Month in Washington (April)

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Classical Month in Washington is a monthly feature. If there are concerts you would like to see included on our schedule, send your suggestions by e-mail (ionarts at gmail dot com). Happy listening!

April 1, 2012 (Sun)
11:30 am and 6:30 pm
Anraku-Miyata Duo [FREE]
Music for harp and Japanese shō
National Gallery of Art

April 1, 2012 (Sun)
2 pm
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Music by Martinů, Sinding, Stravinsky, Saint-Saëns
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 1, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Miloš Karadaglić, guitar
Phillips Collection

April 1, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Bach, St. John Passion
Washington National Cathedral

April 1, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
Larissa Dedova, piano [FREE]
Complete piano music of Debussy I
Clarice Smith Center

April 2, 2012 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Pro Musica Hebraica: Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Music by Alkan, Chopin
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 3, 2012 (Tue)
6 pm
Tenebrae Service
Suspicious Cheese Lords
Our Lady of the Angels Chapel (Catonsville, Md.)

April 3, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
New York City Ballet
Mixed repertory program
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 3, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
eighth blackbird
Schoenberg, Pierrot lunaire
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 3, 2012 (Tue)
8 pm
Tallis Scholars
Tuesday Evening Concert Series
Cabell Hall (Charlottesville, Va.)

April 4, 2012 (Wed)
12:10 pm
Ayano Ninomiya (violin) and Timothy Lovelace (piano) [FREE]
Music by Takemitsu and other composers
National Gallery of Art

April 4, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Maki Mori, soprano
S&R Foundation Artist Concert
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 3, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Tenebrae Service
Suspicious Cheese Lords
Franciscan Monastery

April 4, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
New York City Ballet
Mixed repertory program
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 5, 2012 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Mendelssohn, Elijah (with Helmuth Rilling)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 5, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Tamaki Kawakubo, violin
S&R Foundation Artist Concert
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 5, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
New York City Ballet
Mixed repertory program
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 5, 2012 (Thu)
8 pm
Janus Trio (new music)
Atlas Performing Arts Center

April 6, 2012 (Fri)
1:30 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Mendelssohn, Elijah (with Helmuth Rilling)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 6, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
New York City Ballet
Mixed repertory program
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 7, 2012 (Sat)
1:30 and 7:30 pm
New York City Ballet
Mixed repertory program
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 7, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Andy Akiho, composer/percussionist
S&R Foundation Artist Concert
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 7, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Leonid Sushansky (violin) and Carlos Rodriguez (piano)
Brahms, violin sonatas
Austrian Cultural Forum
Embassy of Austria

April 7, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Mendelssohn, Elijah (with Helmuth Rilling)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 8, 2012 (Sun)
1:30 pm
New York City Ballet
Mixed repertory program
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 8, 2012 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Easter Day Recital
Jeremy Filsell, organ
Washington National Cathedral

April 8, 2012 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Soichi Muraji, guitar
S&R Foundation Artist Concert
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 10, 2012 (Tue)
7 pm
Arditti String Quartet [FREE]
With Stephen Drury, piano
Library of Congress

April 10, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Sayaka Shiji, violin
S&R Foundation Artist Concert
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 11, 2012 (Wed)
12:10 pm
JACK Quartet [FREE]
Music by Hosokawa and Ives
National Gallery of Art

April 11, 2012 (Wed)
7 pm
Screening of Bach and Friends [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 11, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Anna Caterina Antonacci, soprano
Vocal Arts D.C.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 11, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Caroline Goulding, violin [FREE]
National Museum of Women in the Arts

April 11, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
ALICE (in Wonderland)
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

April 12, 2012 (Thu)
1:30 pm
University of Maryland Bach Cantata Series [FREE]
Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt, BWV 112
Clarice Smith Center

April 12, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Quatuor Diotima
La Maison Française

April 12, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Yu Kosuge, piano
S&R Foundation Artist Concert
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 12, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Daniela Koch (flute) and Christian Reif (piano)
Austrian Cultural Forum
Embassy of Austria

April 12, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
ALICE (in Wonderland)
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

April 12, 2012 (Thu)
8 pm
Alisa Weilerstein (cello) and Inon Barnatan (piano)
Clarice Smith Center
[CANCELED]

April 13, 2012 (Fri)
12:10 pm
Yoko Owada (flute), Michael Langlois (piano), Chris DeChiara and Eric Plewinski (percussion) [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 13, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm (though April 22)
UrbanArias
Artisphere (Rosslyn, Va.)

April 13, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
ALICE (in Wonderland)
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

April 13, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Quatuor Diotima [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 13, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Barns at Wolf Trap

April 13, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
With Joshua Bell, violin
Music by Beethoven
Music Center at Strathmore

April 13, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Lionel Bringuier, conductor
With Jonathan Carney, violin
Music by Musorgsky, Khachaturian, Stravinsky
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 14, 2012 (Sat)
2:30 and 7:30 pm
ALICE (in Wonderland)
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

April 14, 2012 (Sat)
6:15 pm
Pius Cheung, marimba [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 14, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Paisiello, Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Opera Lafayette
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 14, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Bachfest with Juilliard Baroque [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 14, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Pacifica Quartet with Christopher Shih (piano)
Candlelight Concert Society
Smith Theater, Howard Community College (Columbia, Md.)

April 14, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Walden Chamber Players
Dumbarton Concerts

April 14, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Jonathan Carney, violin
Music by Musorgsky, Khachaturian, Stravinsky
Music Center at Strathmore

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
1:30 and 7:30 pm
ALICE (in Wonderland)
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
2 pm
Paisiello, Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Opera Lafayette
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
2 pm
CUA Women's Chorus
St. Vincent Chapel, CUA

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Lionel Bringuier, conductor
With Jonathan Carney, violin
Music by Musorgsky, Khachaturian, Stravinsky
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Eclipse Chamber Orchestra
Music by Sibelius, Finzi, Hindemith
George Washington Masonic Memorial (Alexandria, Va.)

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Symphony of the Potomac
With Stephen Honigberg, cello
Music by Saint-Saens, Rabaud, Chadwick
Cultural Arts Center, Montgomery College (Silver Spring, Md.)

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Miranda Cuckson (violin) and Aaron Wunsch (piano)
Phillips Collection

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
European Union Youth Orchestra
With Vladimir Ashkenazy (conductor) and Pinchas Zukerman (violin)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
5 pm
City Choir of Washington
Bach, Magnificat
National Presbyterian Church

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
5:15 pm
David Chalmers, organ
Washington National Cathedral

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
5:30 pm
Takács Quartet
Music by Debussy, Janáček, Beethoven
Shriver Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
6 pm
Hampus Lindwall, Titular Organist of L'église du Saint-Esprit (Paris) [FREE]
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

April 15, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
Larissa Dedova, piano [FREE]
Complete piano music of Debussy II
Clarice Smith Center

April 16, 2012 (Mon)
6:30 pm
Alec Baldwin [FREE]
Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 16, 2012 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Opera Scenes Workshop
Ward Recital Hall
CUA School of Music

April 18, 2012 (Wed)
8 pm
Morton Subotnick, Silver Apples of the Moon
Clarice Smith Center

April 19, 2012 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Andrew Litton (conductor), Stephen Hough (piano)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 19, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Joan Morris (soprano) and William Bolcom (piano)
Mansion at Strathmore

April 19, 2012 (Thu)
8 pm
Rahilia Hasanova, composer
An die Musik LIVE (Baltimore, Md.)

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
12:10 pm
Claire Huangci, piano [FREE]
Music by Chopin, Tchaikovsky
National Gallery of Art

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
1:30 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Andrew Litton (conductor), Stephen Hough (piano)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
7 pm
Mark Morris: Dancing Beyond Boundaries (lecture)
Hirshhorn Museum

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Argento, Postcards from Morocco
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Mendelssohn Piano Trio with Michael Stepniak, viola
Embassy Series
Embassy of Austria

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Composition Division Recital
Ward Recital Hall
CUA School of Music

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
CUA University Chorus
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (Kensington, Md.)

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Gounod, Faust
Lyric Opera Baltimore

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Washington Musica Viva
Music by Ullmann, Brahms
Takoma Park Community Center Auditorium (Takoma Park, Md.)

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Concerto Köln [FREE]
With Jan Freiheit, cello
Library of Congress

April 20, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
University of Maryland Choruses [FREE]
Clarice Smith Center

Apri1 21, 2012 (Sat)
3 pm
Attacca Quartet
Evergreen Museum (Baltimore, Md.)

April 21, 2012 (Sat)
7 pm
Washington Musica Viva [FREE]
Music by Menotti
Herndon United Methodist Church (Herndon, Va.)

April 21, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Argento, Miss Havisham's Fire
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 21, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
CUA University Chorus
St. Vincent Chapel, CUA

April 21, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Andrew Litton (conductor), Stephen Hough (piano)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 21, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Sounds of Catalonia (music of Mompou, Montsalvatge, others)
Kreeger Museum

April 21, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Tribute to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
Music by Bliss, Bridge, Britten
Left Bank Concert Society
Dumbarton Church

April 21, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
VERGE Ensemble [FREE]
Music of Morton Subotnick
Clarice Smith Center

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
1 pm
University of Maryland Music Faculty [FREE]
Music of Dominick Argento
Clarice Smith Center

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
2 pm
Argento, Postcards from Morocco
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Gounod, Faust
Lyric Opera Baltimore

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Brahms, Ein deutsches Requiem
Choral Arts Society of Washington
Final concert by Norman Scribner
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Daedalus Quartet
Phillips Collection

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Washington Master Chorale: The Ravishing Hour
St. Luke Catholic Church (McLean, Va.)

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Carmina: Fairest Isle
Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church (Bethesda, Md.)

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Gerhard Weinberger, organ
Washington National Cathedral

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
6:30 pm
National Gallery of Art Orchestra [FREE]
With Charles Wetherbee, violin
Music by Fujiwara, Hisaishi, and Noadira
National Gallery of Art

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
A Far Cry (chamber orchestra)
Dumbarton Oaks

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
Larissa Dedova, piano [FREE]
Complete piano music of Debussy III
Clarice Smith Center

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Argento, Andrée Expedition [FREE]
With Robert Tudor (baritone) and Susan Slingland (piano)
Clarice Smith Center

April 22, 2012 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Smithsonian Chamber Music Society
National Museum of American History

April 23, 2012 (Mon)
5:30 pm
Student Chamber Recital I [FREE]
Clarice Smith Center

April 23, 2012 (Mon)
7:30 pm
CUA Orchestra
Hartke Theater, CUA

April 23, 2012 (Mon)
8 pm
A Far Cry (chamber orchestra)
Dumbarton Oaks

April 23, 2012 (Mon)
8 pm
University of Maryland Music Faculty
Music of Dominick Argento
Clarice Smith Center

April 24, 2012 (Tue)
7 pm
Student Chamber Recital II [FREE]
Clarice Smith Center

April 24, 2012 (Tue)
7:30 pm
CUA Wind Ensemble
Pryzbyla Center, CUA

April 24, 2012 (Tue)
8 pm
Manasse-Nakamatsu Duo
Tuesday Evening Concert Series
Cabell Hall (Charlottesville, Va.)

April 25, 2012 (Wed)
12:10 pm
Robert Henry and Yoshikazu Nagai, pianists [FREE]
Music by Haydn, Scarlatti, Schubert
National Gallery of Art

April 25, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Argento, Miss Havisham's Fire
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 25, 2012 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Musicians from Marlboro III [FREE]
Freer Gallery of Art

April 26, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Argento, Postcards from Morocco
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 26, 2012 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Jo Kanamori/Dance Company Noism
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 26, 2012 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Arabella Steinbacher, violin
Music Center at Strathmore

April 27, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Jo Kanamori/Dance Company Noism
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 27, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Argento, Miss Havisham's Fire
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 27, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Paulius Andersson, piano
Embassy Series
Embassy of Lithuania

April 27, 2012 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin (with piano)
Opera Bel Cantanti
JCCGW

April 27, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra
With Yuri Bashmet (viola) and Mischa Maisky (cello)
Music Center at Strathmore

April 27, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Joyce Yang, piano
Barns at Wolf Trap

April 27, 2012 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Arabella Steinbacher, violin
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
12 and 3 pm
Tanya Tomkins, Baroque cello [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
3 pm
Yury Shadrin, piano
Baltimore Museum of Art

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
5 pm
Cathedra
Music by Barber, Ives, others
Washington National Cathedral

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
6 pm
Emerson Quartet
Music by Mozart, Beethoven
National Museum of Natural History

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
7 pm
Verdi, Nabucco
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin (with piano)
Opera Bel Cantanti
JCCGW

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
7:30 pm
CUA University Singers
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Crypt Church)

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
National Philharmonic
With Sarah Chang, violin
Music Center at Strathmore

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Arabella Steinbacher, violin
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 28, 2012 (Sat)
8 pm
Thérèse Fahy, piano
Washington Conservatory of Music
Westmoreland Congregational Church (Bethesda, Md.)

April 29, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
National Philharmonic
With Sarah Chang, violin
Music Center at Strathmore

April 29, 2012 (Sun)
3 pm
Argento, Miss Havisham's Fire
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 29, 2012 (Sun)
4 pm
Reto Bieri (clarinet) and Benjamin Engeli (piano)
Phillips Collection

April 29, 2012 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Andre Rakus, organ
Washington National Cathedral

April 29, 2012 (Sun)
6 pm
What Makes It Great?
Beethoven, Violin Concerto
Keng-Wyen Tseng (violin) and Peabody Chamber Orchestra
With Rob Kapilow, lecturer
National Museum of Natural History

April 29, 2012 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo [FREE]
With Yu Kosuge, piano
Music by Mozart, Beethoven
National Gallery of Art

April 29, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
Perlman-Quint-Bailey Piano Trio
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

April 29, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
Larissa Dedova, piano [FREE]
Complete piano music of Debussy IV
Clarice Smith Center

April 29, 2012 (Sun)
7 pm
Piano Conversation with Jeffrey Siegel
Music of Brahms
GMU Center for the Arts

Prague Philharmonia

Mozart, Symphony No. 38 / Voříšek, Symphony in D, Prague Philharmonia, J. Bělohlávek Martinů, Violin Concerto, I. Faust, Prague Philharmonia, J. Bělohlávek

Jiří Bělohlávek resigned as director of the Czech Philharmonic in 1992, after he was somewhat unceremoniously ousted from that position in favor of Gerd Albrecht. Soon after, Bělohlávek formed the Prague Philharmonia, a chamber orchestra of forty-some musicians. After serving as music director through the ensemble's first decade, he was succeeded by Kaspar Zehnder and Jakub Hrůša. Now, after a much-admired tenure at the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek will begin a second term as music director of the Czech Philharmonic, beginning this fall, two decades after his first one. After a guest engagement with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra last weekend, the Czech conductor had another local appearance on Tuesday night, leading the Prague Philharmonia in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater as part of the Music of Budapest, Prague, and Vienna festival.

The Prague Philharmonia was formed in the image of the 18th-century court orchestra, a mid-sized ensemble, and that era's music -- balanced, diverting, clear -- is their specialty. This came across in the final piece on the program, the Symphony in D Major, op. 24, by Jan Václav Voříšek (1791-1825), which received the most unified, crisp, and pleasing performance of the evening. Voříšek was born in the year that Mozart died, and his life was cut short at around the same length as his Viennese idol. Having worked primarily as imperial court organist, he wrote a pile of liturgical choral and organ music, most of it forgotten. This symphony was his first foray into orchestral music, completed only a few years before the composer died. Bělohlávek and the Prague Philharmonia recorded it a couple years ago, and while it may not be an immortal work, it is worthwhile listening.

Where the violin section had occasionally sounded at odds with one another in the other selections, the intonation slightly askew, in the copious amounts of figuration in this piece they were taut and lean. The outer movements of this symphony sound the most like Haydn and Beethoven, formally not that adventurous, the recapitulation of the first movement sneaking up on the listener, and the fourth brimming ebulliently with wit. The second movement, marked Andante, had the feel of a Beethoven funeral-march slow movement, with an elegiac middle section, followed by a well-manicured but urgent third movement.

Other Reviews: Robert Battey, Prague Philharmonia leaves big impression (Washington Post, March 22)

All in all the playing was quite fine, although there were more problems with lack of ensemble and tuning in the first two pieces. Mozart's overture to Don Giovanni, premiered in Prague in 1787, seethed with anxiety and a sense of impending doom in its slow opening section, with the fast section pushed just a bit too far in tempo. Bělohlávek may not craft interpretations that grab the listener by their originality, but everything has been well thought out and placed properly in terms of balance and shape. The violins clearly knew when they were secondary in importance to the winds, allowing for some clean, unforced playing in the woodwind solos.

Leoš Janáček's Suite for Strings, an early work completed in 1877, was lovingly played, especially the ardent, pining second movement, only violins and violas, and the pleasant country walk of the third. The fifth movement featured a fervent cello solo, in dialogue with the violin section, and a particularly cohesive sixth movement rounded out a well-crafted performance. Two encores, after the Voříšek, showed off the best qualities of the orchestra: a sparkling overture from Rossini's La Scala di Seta, with a workout for the talented principal oboist, and the third movement from Antonín Dvořák's Serenade for Strings.

The focus on Prague continues this week at the Kennedy Center with the final festival concerts from the National Symphony Orchestra: Dvořák's setting of the Stabat mater sequence (March 22 and 24 -- thoughts on that tomorrow) and some more lighter orchestral fare by Dvořák and Janáček (March 23), with pianist Lukáš Vondrácek.

L'Arpeggiata Cuts a Rug

Charles T. Downey, Genre-bending L’Arpeggiata makes Washington debut at Library of Congress
Washington Post, March 21, 2012

La Tarantella: Antidotum Tarantulae, L. Galeazzi, M. Beasley, L'Arpeggiata, C. Pluhar (2001)

L’Arpeggiata brought its ear-catching brand of pseudo-baroque crossover to the Library of Congress on Monday night. It was the Washington debut of this genre-bending ensemble from Europe, directed by lutenist Christina Pluhar. L’Arpeggiata’s program was derived from a recording made a decade ago, a cocktail of one part historical music and two parts popular and folk music of more recent vintage.

Pluhar sees in this process of popularization a form of contact with a “living baroque” culture, but one hardly needs to accept the veracity of such a claim, tenuous at best, to enjoy what the group does. The program bears the title of that disc, “La Tarantella,” which explored music from southern Italy supposedly used to cure spider bites, but most of the pieces on this program were not tarantellas. [Continue reading]

L'Arpeggiata (dir. Christina Pluhar)
With Lucilla Galeazzi
Library of Congress

PREVIOUSLY:
In Her Own Words: Christina Pluhar (Ionarts, March 14)

One thought that did not make it into the print version of this review concerned the novelty of improvisation, which is one of the things that helps make L'Arpeggiata's performances of interest. The claim to be getting at some hidden Baroque improvisatory style by performing jazz or folk music is nonsense: what L'Arpeggiata does is crossover. In fact, other groups are doing better work with improvisation and actually performing all historical music: a concert by Le Poème Harmonique at La Maison Française last year comes to mind.

Murray Perahia

Brahms, Handel Variations / Opp. 118 and 119, M. Perahia Beethoven, Piano Sonatas, Opp. 26, 14, 28, M. Perahia

Murray Perahia's chosen repertoire has narrowed over the years into a set of rather specific specialties: finely tooled Bach, lesser Beethoven and Schubert sonatas, miniatures by Brahms, Schumann, or Chopin. For his latest Washington Performing Arts Society recital, heard on Sunday afternoon in the Music Center at Strathmore, the American pianist stuck close to this pattern, as he did for his recitals in 2009 and 2007. All of it was immaculately polished, with a few slips here and there, just to remind us that we were not listening to an engineered recording.

Perahia's Bach is generally among my favorite performances on piano, and based on this elegant rendering of the composer's fifth French suite, one hopes that a recording of all six French suites is in the works. Perahia studied the harpsichord quite intensively for two years, as he told an interviewer recently, using the instrument to help himself understand the Goldberg Variations when he was recording it. That work is heard in the clarity of articulation Perahia used in this piece, although he was not afraid to use the sustaining pedal or the full dynamic range of the modern instrument. Happily he avoided his one displeasing tendency in Bach, to take the Sarabande movement in an over-slow, mannered way, giving each of this suite's quirky inner dances a palette of unusual colors -- a perky Gavotte, with a buoyant bassoon-like solo in the left hand, a sprightly Bourrée, and a Louré more sporting than stately -- followed by a fanfare-like Gigue of trumpet motifs.

Beethoven's 27th sonata (op. 90, E minor) was mined for its stormy contrasts, with Perahia trading in his earlier subtlety for a hammered approach to all those sforzandi. It was an interesting pairing with a lesser Schubert sonata on the second half (D. 664, A major), which paired delicate first-movement themes with a thunderous development. The nostalgic second movement and the sense of mischief in the third gave plenty of opportunities to appreciate Perahia's range of touch at the keyboard. The best moments of the evening came in the op. 119 set of pieces by Johannes Brahms, a composer whose emotional reticence plays right into Perahia's strengths. The first intermezzo (B minor) was a little marvel, its often shocking dissonances gracefully given a wistful turn, all mournful interior contemplation, thoughts echoed in the other intermezzi. The closing rhapsody, given a heroic arrogance recalling Schumann's Davidsbündler, was an appropriately strong ending for the first half.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, Murray Perahia at Strathmore (Washington Post, March 20) John Heuertz, Murray Perahia at the Folly Theater (Kansas City Star, March 15)

Perahia is not one of my favorite Chopin players, although he gives this music plenty of charm, if not always enough power. The Polonaise in C-sharp minor (op. 26/1) was big and bold, with thickly applied rubato, while two smaller pieces -- the F-sharp minor prelude (op. 28/8) and C-sharp minor mazurka (op. 30/4) -- were more graceful than daring, the mazurka charmingly mercurial. The concluding work, the Scherzo in C-sharp minor (op. 39/3) was taken at a very fast tempo and was somewhat rash in character, appropriately enough, with some lovely colors of harp swooshes and other sounds in the middle section. Perahia pulled out one of his favorite -- and best -- encores, a tipsy and breathless Schubert impromptu (E♭ major, op. 90/2). A second encore, Chopin's C-sharp minor étude (op. 10/4), was launched at an overly optimistic tempo, again revealing this performer's assets as refinement and musical intelligence over power and virtuosity.

The next recital in the WPAS recital will feature violinist Mikhail Simonyan and pianist Alexandre Moutouzkine (March 31, 2 pm), in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

Emerson Quartet Gives Thanks

This review is an Ionarts exclusive.

Beethoven, String Quartets, Emerson Quartet Mozart, Prussian Quartets, Emerson Quartet

David Finckel, cellist of the Emerson Quartet since 1979, recently announced that he will be retiring from the group at the end of next season. At the group's concert on Saturday evening, the latest in their Smithsonian Resident Associates series at the National Museum of Natural History, one again had the impression of a group possibly pulling apart at the seams, musically speaking. Playing in a string quartet can be a contentious affair, the possible acrimony aggravated by the rigors of international touring and the pressures of close collaboration, something that some musicians, like Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri Quartet, have written about in their memoirs. (The Emerson Quartet featured in a piece by Norman Lebrecht on this subject for The Strad a couple years ago.) The Emerson Quartet, formed in 1976, has already named a successor to Finckel, so the group obviously has every intention of enduring. Slight inconsistencies in this performance, of intonation, of ensemble, of balance, hinted at some discord in the group, or at least fatigue, but that is only speculation.

The high point of this concert, a pairing of two late Beethoven quartets, was the middle movement of the second of the two, op. 132. Having been restored to health after a life-threatening illness, Beethoven inscribed this movement with the words "Sacred Song of Thanks to the Divinity by a Convalescent," setting the music not in major or minor but in the Lydian mode, to heighten the sense of a formal piece of liturgical music. Where most of the other movements had a stridency that seemed to come from disquiet or disagreement, this central movement felt calm, steady, reverent, with the intonation and blend all even and true, as cooperation and control were foremost, with some of the most assured, silky playing from first violinist Philip Setzer. By contrast, the first movement was marked by an urgent, edgy tone and the second had a folksy, pleasant gentility, while the fourth movement's march had crunch, more hammered than vivace. The fifth movement concluded the concert on a turbulent, chest-heaving note, even a little overblown in the middle section. It was intensity for intensity's sake.

This week's battle of the late Beethoven quartets -- the genre-bending compositions occupying the composer in the last two years of his life -- began with an op. 131 from the Takács Quartet, which was a model of clarity, a performance, as Joseph Kerman once described op. 131 itself, "effortlessly in control of itself." (I enjoyed it much more than the Emerson's last performance of op. 131, a year ago. For comparison, you can listen to the third movement of the "Heiliger Dankgesang" played by the Takács Quartet, warmer and less disembodied than how the Emerson played it.) The Emerson opened this concert with op. 127, a quartet in the key of E♭ major, "often a key of grand rhetoric and symphonic gestures," in the words of critic Michael Steinberg. While this puts the Maestoso opening of op. 127 in the company of the Eroica symphony and the Emperor Concerto (its opening motto is just as recognizable, its nuances analyzed cogently by Steinberg -- hear it performed by the Talich Quartet), it did not really justify the overwrought, even acerbic sound applied by the Emersons. Eugene Drucker had a sweet tone on first violin in the softer moments, but his E string was not quite reliable and his left hand a little rusty, with tuning and accuracy issues in the third movement.

The Emerson Quartet will repeat this program on Wednesday night (March 21, 7:30 pm) at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, augmented by one of the Mozart Prussian quartets from their new CD. In Washington, the survey of Beethoven's late string quartets continues next month, when the Emerson Quartet will perform opp. 131 and 135 (April 28, 6 pm).

In Brief: Allemonde Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.

(See also the version conducted by Pierre Boulez, Welsh National Opera)

• Philippe Jordan conducts Debussy's masterpiece Pelléas et Mélisande from the Opéra de Bastille, in the production by Robert Wilson, with Stéphane Degout (Pelléas), Vincent le Texier (Golaud), Elena Tsallagova (Mélisande), and Anne Sofie von Otter (Geneviève) -- watch the online video. [Medici.tv]


• Nurse your St. Patrick's Day hangover by listening to a recital by Irish pianist Barry Douglas, Beethoven sonatas from London -- push the Play button next to the words "(ré)écouter l'émission." [France Musique]


• The European tour of Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach was in Montpellier this weekend. Marie-Aude Roux has some thoughts on the performance: "Only Robert Wilson seems as delighted as a kid that Einstein will be discovered by another generation. 'The audience of the 21st century will be more familiar with technology', he says, 'but will it be able to endure the five hours of the performance?' In France, the question was almost not asked. The tour, managed by the American production company Pomegranate Arts, required significant financial and logistical resources. A challenge that the director of the Opéra de Montpellier, Jean-Paul Scarpitta, is quite proud to have accepted when all others had refused it. 'I met Bob Wilson in Prague in 2010, and he spoke to me about the difficulty of producing Einstein, because of the opposition of organizations in Paris." [Le Monde]


• The Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart perform music of Monteverdi, Gesualdo, Berio, and others at the Grand Théâtre de l’Opéra de Dijon. [France Musique]


• Watch the Orchestre National du Capitole, under conductor Tugan Sokhiev, perform Mahler's second symphony. [Medici.tv]


• Riccardo Chailly leads the Berlin Philharmonic in music by Shostakovich, Respighi, and Paul Lincke, from the Waldbühne. [France Musique]


• Thierry Hillériteau also has some thoughts on the Montpellier date with Einstein on the Beach, "l'œuvre monstre de Philip Glass, Bob Wilson et Lucinda Childs." [Le Figaro]


• Philip Pickett leads the New London Consort in a concert performance of Purcell's King Arthur, from the Cité de la Musique à Paris. [France Musique]


• Christian Thielemann leads the Vienna Philharmonic in Beethoven's third symphony, from the Wiener Musikverein. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Philippe Jordan leads the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris in Mahler's first symphony, plus the world premiere of a new violin concerto by Bruno Mantovani, with violinist Renaud Capuçon as soloist. [France Musique]


• Listen to the Wiener Klaviertrio playing music by Beethoven, Johannes Maria Staud, and Brahms, in the Mozart-Saal des Wiener Konzerthauses. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Soprano Olga Pasiecznik joins the Polish Radio Orchestra in Witold Lutosławski's Chantefleurs et Chantefables. [France Musique]


• Myung-Whun Chung leads a joint concert by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Unhasu Orchestra from North Korea, in the Salle Pleyel in Paris. [Cité de la Musique Live]


• Myung-Whun Chung again with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in a program of Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky. [Cité de la Musique Live]


• Pianist Nicholas Angelich joins Juraj Valcuha and the Orchestre de Paris for music of Beethoven and Mendelssohn. [France Musique]


• Listen to Mariss Jansons lead the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Beethoven's first symphony and Johannes Maria Staud's Maniai, plus the fourth symphony of Johannes Brahms, from the Herkulessaal der Münchner Residenz. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Watch Paavo Järvi lead the Orchestre de Paris, with Katia and Marielle Labèque as soloists. [Cité de la Musique Live]


• Soprano Marlis Petersen and pianist Jendrik Springer perform a recital on the theme of "Goethe und das 'Ewigweibliche'," from the Mozart-Saal des Wiener Konzerthaus. Österreichischer Rundfunk]