A modern burnish for Prague Spring

By Frank Kuznik, 26 May 2015

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Reviewed at Archa Theatre, Prague on 25 May 2015

Wajsar, Other (World première)

Goebbels, Songs of Wars I Have Seen

Berg Orchestra

Peter Vrábel, Conductor

A Midsummer meditation mix from the SCO Chorus

David Smythe, 20th June

The SCO Chorus in a meditative mood for midsummer in music by Glass, Taverner, MacMillan and Duruflé.

****1

Apollonian radiance and women scorned: the Britten Sinfonia at Snape

Roy Westbrook, 18th June

Hell holds no fury like a woman scorned, and it was certainly so in Greek mythology, celebrated in this outstanding Aldeburgh Festival performance by the Britten Sinfonia and Helen Charlston.

*****

Orozco-Estrada, Bruce Liu and the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 18th June

Vivid, full-bodied Tchaikovsky, passionate without losing its grammar, on a persuasive night for the KBS Symphony Orchestra.

****1

From Florence to Venice: an Italian tour with Renato Dolcini

Sandra Bowdler, 18th June

The impressive Italian baritone features in a tour of Renaissance and Baroque Italian works with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra in Melbourne.

****1

Black American music finds a new voice at the Concertgebouw

Clare Varney, 18th June

Dutch premieres, new faces and new arrangements result in a concert quite unlike any other from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Antony Hermus.

****1

Marin Alsop brings unexpected pleasures to Philadelphia Orchestra

Kurt Gottschalk, 18th June

The Philadelphia Orchestra celebrates the 50th birthday of the Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Fairmount Park, with Marin Alsop serving up a surprise in Ravel's Boléro.

****1

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Frank Kuznik

Frank Kuznik is the former Editor-in-Chief and Culture Editor of The Prague Post, Central Europe’s premier English-language weekly newspaper. He currently divides his time between Prague and his hometown in the US, Cleveland, where he covers northeast Ohio's dynamic classical music scene. In Prague he is an habitué of the Rudolfinum, National Theater, State Opera and other storied classical music venues, and an unabashed fan of Czech music.