Bedřich Smetana (1824-84)
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Royal Albert Hall, London
Smetana’s Má vlast (My Country/Homeland)…
- Vyšehrad (The High Castle)
- Vltava (The Moldau)
- Šárka
- Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields)
- Tábor
- Blaník
… came from Berlin on May 10, so there was an element of déjà vu for yours truly. With the Philharmoniker in Smetana-seasoned form, Kirill Petrenko ebbed and flowed these six scenic delights to great effect, possibly more so than previously: the close of ‘Vyšehrad‘ dragged a little, however, but, as before, there was no waiting before the river adventure got underway. ‘Šárka’ built to a thrilling conclusion via seductive clarinet contributions (Wenzel Fuchs, I assume), and ‘Woods and Fields’ was initially awed and mysterious – when the morning mist cleared there was exuberant dancing on the plains. ‘Tábor’ and ‘Blaník‘ were rightly paired – they share musical motifs – conjuring patriotism without bombast, culminating in a joyous home-coming.
In Berlin the Smetana had stood alone. In London Víkingur Ólafsson played Schumann’s Piano Concerto, a lively, lyrical account graced with beguiling woodwinds, Petrenko sympathetic to Ólafsson’s fiery and reflective approach, full of romantic ardour and musing, all of a piece though in this creative collaboration to which the Berliners brought much charisma. Ólafsson found an ink-still-wet quality in the first-movement cadenza, the middle movement reminisced and blossomed, and the Finale was vigorous, albeit somewhat speedily overdone, requiring an athletic approach safely negotiated by these mercurial artists, if unhelpfully hectic in the coda, counterpoint compromised. For an encore Ólafsson played Bach transcribed, a Sonata slow movement for organ (from BWV528), taking the listener somewhere well beyond the Albert Hall.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022cl8