Like its spring counterpart, the autumn Dvořák Prague Festival opens every year with a signature Czech program, offering audiences an opportunity to hear different interpretations of familiar works. This year Alain Altinoglu was on the podium leading the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and soloist Gautier Capuçon in a performance of the composer’s Cello Concerto in B minor and New World Symphony. Despite skillful work by the players, it was an underwhelming showing.
Altinoglu cast the pieces in large terms – uptempo, high volume, explosive dynamics. The sound was bold, bordering on aggressive at times, giving the music maximum impact but not leaving much room for artistry. Nuances were buried, subtleties flew by and details were blurred in the headlong rush of what was otherwise a thrilling treatment. Altinoglu is a versatile conductor and his musicians play with verve, but the boisterous approach robbed the music of some of its essential emotional quality.
Capuçon provided his share of that in the concerto, playing with intensity from the first note and plumbing emotional depths, particularly in the solo passages in the second movement. The woodwinds occasionally echoed his expressive tone, but if they did that in other movements it was hard to tell, as the volume of the orchestra often drowned him out. Nor did rhythms with an occasional martial air do anything to soften the sound. Some fine technical work on both sides gave the piece a nice polish, but ultimately it seemed hollow at the core, lacking that tug at the heartstrings.
The symphony was better-suited to Altinoglu’s approach, which also gave the orchestra’s outstanding brass and woodwind sections a chance to shine. The chords from the brass were wonderfully evocative, especially in the opening sections of the first and second movements. And the woodwinds were nothing short of brilliant in the Largo, which also afforded the conductor an opportunity to show his tender side. The strings shimmered while the woodwinds offered bright colors played with warmth and precision, all tempered by a measured pacing that finally let the music breathe. The return to a big sound afterward finally seemed to click into place, with the melodies rendered in persuasively dramatic fashion and a rip-roaring finale coasting to a smooth, elegant finish.
Still, the overall effect was the same – lots of flash and dazzle on a heady ride that provided plenty of excitement, but not much of an opportunity to truly savor the music.
Is it asking too much to expect a visiting orchestra to match the emotional underpinnings that a native orchestra can bring to Czech music? Perhaps, and admittedly the whole point of the exercise is to be open to new ideas, and hear the music afresh. In that respect, Altinoglu and the orchestra can hardly be faulted. Whatever one’s tastes and expectations, they gave an adept, impassioned performance. And maybe more importantly, showed respect and enthusiasm for Dvořák’s music. In the Czech lands, there’s no higher compliment.
