SCO A Celebration of Dvořák Usher Hall Edinburgh 26th September 2024 Review
Scottish Chamber Orchestra - A Celebration of Dvořák at the Usher Hall this evening was in many ways the perfect concert opener for their 2024/25 season, as Antonín Dvořák is one of the few classical composers who was always able to appeal to both conservative and progressive musical audiences with their work.
Anton Dvořák’s work is full of passion and energy that he translates into his music, so it needs a conductor who shares these things in their music too, and as always, Maxim Emelyanychev succeeds in sharing his energy and passion for music with both the orchestra and their audience.
Having an evening’s programme of music devoted to one composer is, for me, always interesting as it gives the opportunity to experience a wider range of one person’s creativity and a chance to perhaps glimpse through their music a little bit of their own life whilst creating what we hear. Tonight the three works selected (below) certainly provided many insights as to who Antonín Dvořák was as a person and not just a composer.
DVOŘÁK
Carnival Overture
Cello Concerto in B minor
Symphony No 8
The opening music this evening, “Carnival Overture” dates from 1891 and is part of a trilogy entitled "Nature, Life and Love". This is the work of a composer who was now aged 50 and well established both musically and financially in his career and it is perhaps that sense of security that allowed him to be so playful with this music. This is Dvořák writing a story, not in words but in music, and you can sense that anticipation of this traveller who at nightfall is approaching a city when a carnival is in party-time.
Thankfully for the second work, Cello Concerto in B minor, Dvořák not only overcame his personal reservations about the use of a cello as a solo instrument in an orchestra, but also created one of the most wonderful pieces of music ever written for any instrument. Tonight the combination of Dvořák’s genius and Steven Isserlis’ sensitive interpretation of this music were the perfect partnership. Is the ending of this work, which Dvořák specifically instructed in writing to his publisher should not be changed, really a farewell to the unrequited love of his life upon her death?
Symphony No 8 may have been the final Dvořák work performed this evening, but for many people in the audience it obviously shared a place in their hearts (along with the cello concerto). Every movement of this work has something very special to say and such is the skill of Dvořák that symphonic form and tone poems shift endlessly around one another here to create that sense of composer, music and the natural world which so often inspired everything often becoming one.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Anton Dvořák’s work is full of passion and energy that he translates into his music, so it needs a conductor who shares these things in their music too, and as always, Maxim Emelyanychev succeeds in sharing his energy and passion for music with both the orchestra and their audience.
Having an evening’s programme of music devoted to one composer is, for me, always interesting as it gives the opportunity to experience a wider range of one person’s creativity and a chance to perhaps glimpse through their music a little bit of their own life whilst creating what we hear. Tonight the three works selected (below) certainly provided many insights as to who Antonín Dvořák was as a person and not just a composer.
DVOŘÁK
Carnival Overture
Cello Concerto in B minor
Symphony No 8
The opening music this evening, “Carnival Overture” dates from 1891 and is part of a trilogy entitled "Nature, Life and Love". This is the work of a composer who was now aged 50 and well established both musically and financially in his career and it is perhaps that sense of security that allowed him to be so playful with this music. This is Dvořák writing a story, not in words but in music, and you can sense that anticipation of this traveller who at nightfall is approaching a city when a carnival is in party-time.
Thankfully for the second work, Cello Concerto in B minor, Dvořák not only overcame his personal reservations about the use of a cello as a solo instrument in an orchestra, but also created one of the most wonderful pieces of music ever written for any instrument. Tonight the combination of Dvořák’s genius and Steven Isserlis’ sensitive interpretation of this music were the perfect partnership. Is the ending of this work, which Dvořák specifically instructed in writing to his publisher should not be changed, really a farewell to the unrequited love of his life upon her death?
Symphony No 8 may have been the final Dvořák work performed this evening, but for many people in the audience it obviously shared a place in their hearts (along with the cello concerto). Every movement of this work has something very special to say and such is the skill of Dvořák that symphonic form and tone poems shift endlessly around one another here to create that sense of composer, music and the natural world which so often inspired everything often becoming one.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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