Saturday, November 22, 2025
Schloss Esterházy, Eisenstadt, Austria
Five years and some months ago, Antonio Pappano and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe team-worked a wonderful account of the Opus 72 collection of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances. And now the other half, the eight Dances of Opus 46 performed in palatial and pictorial surroundings, given with similar exuberance and deep-earth expression, countryside vistas and heartfelt pathos exploited to timeless effect, played with a comprehensive rapport to the music, the conductor, and each other, adding the soulful lines of Opus 72/2 as an encore.
The one gripe of the evening was the audience clapping every movement, eleven of them not requiring such a response, four being from Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, which opened muscularly and found María Dueñas addressing the violin’s high notes fearlessly, and if this ‘concerto’ (for Sarasate) meanders across its five movements, with little that is memorable, it certainly enjoyed a suave performance, of character, spirit, style and virtuosity, not least from Dueñas, with the COE and Pappano no-less involved. For an extra, the violinist added – I think – Song of the Birds, which, given its association with Pablo Casals, is normally played on a cello. Dueñas was accompanied by unconducted strings, and very nice, too, even if I’m in the wrong piece!