Prom 50, 28 August 2024
Czech Philharmonic
Prague Philharmonic Choir
Jakub Hrusa
The Czech Phiharmonic is one of the world’s finest orchestras and it’s a joy to see and hear it filling the packed-to-capacity Royal Albert Hall and living up to its well deserved reputation with an engaging all-Czech programme. That unmistakable Czech sound is, I suppose, as much in the blood for these players as Strauss waltzes are for the Vienna Philharmonic.
Goodness knows why few of us have heard of Vitezlava Kapralova who died tragically young (aged 25). Maybe being female didn’t help. Her 1937 Military Sinfonietta has waited nearly 90 years for its first Proms performance. It’s an interesting piece, played here with splendid dynamic control. It was written as a patriotically defensive statement against Nazi incursion but was never intended to be aggressive. The tone is often wistful with attractive solo work fron two violins and from oboe and bassoon. And I really liked the way Hrusa drove the relentless, escalating rhythm in the strings with brass over the top just before the end, then arriving at a rather moving, grand melody. This piece deserves to be heard more often.
Dvorak’s Piano Concerto in G minor isn’t performed as much as it should be either. It came early in his career (1876) before he had made his name, Mao Fujita, who evidently had lots of cheering fans in the audience, sat, hunched, boyish and unassuming but brilliant, to play a piece in which much of the piano part is seamlessly integrated with the orchestra from the understated opening onwards. Orchestra and soloist really excelled in the exquisite Andante sostenuto. There was a deliciously creamy sound from the horns and phenomenally well controlled string work while bassoon and horn wove an aural filigree – all in partnership with the piano. Even at this relatively early date, Dvorak writes stunningly well for wind.
The second half of the concert was in a different mood with the arrival of the Prague Philharmonic Choir, a quartet of soloists and organist Christian Schmitt for Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass, always an arresting work, not least because the composer was an agnostic with pantheistic leanings so it’s a freshly flavoured take on the traditional mass.
The choir, in fine form, made the repeated word Veruju (Credo or I believe) resound wistfully across the huge Albert Hall space and there was a very pleasing balance between chorus, all four soloists and brass and percussion in the Sanctus. Another high spot was the ethereal choral sound in the Agnece Bozij (Agnus Dei) along with impeccably controlled crescendi.
The piece ends with a grandiloquent organ solo and a short orchestral conclusion. It’s always a pleasure to hear the Royal Albert Hall’s mighty Henry Willis beast in full throttle and Schmitt brought out all Janacek’s drama – rather touchingly also crediting the organ itself when he took his bow at the end.
