Prague Symphony Orchestra
Tomas Brauner (conductor)
Gabriela Montero (piano)
Cadogan Hall, 12 February 2025
Zurich International Orchestra Series
Dvorak is to Prague what the Strauss family is to Vienna. It’s in the blood and you could hear that affinity in almost every note of this concert which began and ended with works by their most famous composer.
Tomas Brauner is Prague Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor so there is a powerful rapport between him and the players, seated with violas to his right which made their contribution more prominent than sometimes. The Noonday Witch is one of four tone poems (1896) based on ballades by Karel Jaromir Erben. It tells a powerful story about a clamorous child who is killed by a witch and, even without programme notes, the narrative was very clear: lovely tuba work in the sinister witch sections. Bit strange, however for the leader to tune the orchestra to the piano for a work which doesn’t use it.
The piano was in place for Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 3 which is not a work for the faint hearted because it requires fearsome virtuosity – which, very happily, Gabriela Montero brought to it in abundance, with her iPad and Bluetooth pedal for notation support. Whether it was high speed cross rhythms or gentle lyricism, she played the first movement with verve, very ably supported by Brauner. The second movement opened with tantalising sensuousness before racing off so fast you could hardly see her hands moving, along with which was evocative work from bassoons and beautifully controlled muted strings, especially second violins and violas. It’s a pretty crazy piece of many moods and Montero has some of the most fluid hands I’ve ever seen on a keyboard – and I’ve watched a few. Towards the end of the final Allegro ma non troppo she and Brauner made the music feel almost filmic. A bravura performance by any standards.
It was, however, Montero’s encore which was arguably even more spectacular. Returning to the stage with a hand mic, she told the audience that she had been improvising since childhood and would do so now if someone in the audience would sing her a few notes of a melody. After an embarrassed pause, someone in the balcony sang a bit of Greensleeves and Montero was off – initially in JS Bach mode and ending closer to Rachmaninoff or perhaps Prokofief Quite a party piece but maybe it comes more naturally to a performer who is also an acclaimed composer, as Montero is.
Dvorak’s New World Symphony is always a crowd pleaser and frequently performed (I reviewed Philharmonia playing it only ten days ago) and for good reason: it’s such a perfectly integrated symphony. Brauner, now conducting without score, gave us lots of immediacy and intimacy. Highlights included the dialogue between the wind solos and the dramatic contrasts in the first movement, nippily elegant string work in the scherzo and delightful brass fanfares in the Allegro con fuoco. And of course the iconic largo – which includes one of the most pregnant pauses in the repertoire before the cor anglais entry – was played with oodles of respectful affection but still made to sound fresh. The bass pizzicato was particularly pleasing here.
We finished – of course – with an encore: an incisive romp through one of Dvorak’s delightful Slavonic dances complete with plenty of minor key excitement and Czeck panache.
