Music
Czech Philharmonic, Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Martin Kershaw
Three Stars
Armed with a chunky, dependable programme of cast-iron classics that had drawn a sell-out crowd, the Czech Philharmonic began with a zesty performance of Smetana's Bartered Bride Suite - punching out the scurrying refrains of the Overture with clarity and assurance and jigging through the Furiant and Skocna dance movements with confident relish.
Featured soloist Josef Špa�ek then took to the stage, keen to show his mettle in tackling Mendelssohn's iconic Violin Concerto in E Minor. Familiar and well-loved this work may be, but it remains a formidable challenge for any violinist, and Špa�ek occasionally seemed too in thrall to the technical demands of the work to fully relax musically. He appeared more at ease in Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending, luxuriating in the soaring melodies, wistful and probing without lapsing into overstatement. The ensemble gave sympathetic accompaniment but timekeeping sometimes verged on the flabby, with phrases losing their shape under insufficient direction. Indeed, conductor Ji�à B�lohlávek had a tendency throughout to be unnecessarily engaged in faster, more rhythmic passages (where the pulse was consistent and obvious), but damagingly absent when the tempo was more mutable (and he was most needed).
Dvo�ák's 7th Symphony brought proceedings to a close, and here players and conductor were more united and sure-footed. The work itself is finally rather piecemeal and unsatisfying - perhaps too much influenced by its composer's admiration of Brahms and Wagner - but the orchestra deserve credit for committing to it with unwavering energy and flair; wringing out plenty of dignified emotion in the opening movement, waltzing spiritedly through the Scherzo and somehow managing to sustain momentum in the seemingly endless Finale.
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