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

Jurowski marks Hans Werner Henze’s centenary at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 31st May

Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin deliver a lean, razor-sharp exploration of captivity and survival, balancing Beethoven’s and Brahms’ structural clarity against the devastating, high-fidelity distortion of Henze’s Ninth Symphony.

****1

Mischievous Pan at Hong Kong Sinfonietta's French May

Christopher Halls, 30th May

French clarinettist Raphaël Sévère unearths beauty in Nielsen's concerto and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta impress in two settings of Pan's antics at the French May Festival.

****1

Alsop conducts a substitute Marsalis symphony at Carnegie Hall

David Wolfson, 29th May

The premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Symphony no. 5 is postponed, substituted by selections from his Jungle Symphony, along with a disappointing Beethoven’s Seventh at Carnegie Hall.

***11

Christian Gerhaher: pure poetry in glorious Wigmore Hall recital

Dominic Lowe, 29th May

Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber survey composers from Beethoven to Berg in a varied and deeply moving recital.

*****

An azure secret: Yunchan Lim’s star power at Wigmore Hall

Asher Rubenstein, 29th May

The Korean pianist astonishes in Schubert and Scriabin, in a performance sure to be a highlight of Wigmore Hall’s 125th anniversary festivities.

*****

An end-of-term Mahler 6 from the Hallé in Manchester

Rohan Shotton, 28th May

Kahchun Wong conducts The Hallé in Mahler's epic Sixth Symphony, although directorial idiosyncrasies sometimes get in the way of the music.

***11

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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.