Blasts from the ancient past at Prague Spring

Prague Spring has added depth and discovery to the Year of Czech Music by including living composers among the honorees. None came with a greater frisson of anticipation than Kryštof Mařatka, who divides his time between Prague and Paris, where he has made some impressive friends. Both the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and soloist Amaury Coeytaux were on hand to help with the world premiere of his new violin concerto Sanctuaries – In the Depths of Cave Paintings.

Fascinated by ancient artwork, Mařatka turned to prehistoric drawings discovered in French caves that have become world famous images from the past. While the references are specific – the lion fresco in the Chauvet Cave, for example – the music is not. It is evocative rather than descriptive, the composer’s reaction to kindred spirits reaching across centuries. The five movements are, in effect, like windows onto an alluring and mysterious time, conjuring an atmosphere and creating links. 

Describing the music in detail is difficult, because in performance it changed in style and structure literally every minute, and sometimes less. Deep roars and rumbles would give way to swooping strings and high-pitched, whistling woodwinds, with constant knocking, rasping and snapping percussion in the background. Snippets of melody and rhythm would appear and then quickly get turned inside out, creating a primordial soup of sound. Conducting the piece himself, Mařatka had strong support from the orchestra, which enlivened what seemed like a tribal gathering in the final movement with clapping hands, stomping feet, soft singing and sharp shouts.

Coeytaux was equally animated, alternating between jagged, fiery attacks and exquisitely fine lines that floated above the mayhem. Among the many sounds one does not usually hear on the concert stage, his 1715 Stradivarius screeching like a primitive animal was unique. Coeytaux was no less intense in a riveting encore of the Les Furies finale from Ysaÿe’s Violin Sonata no. 2.

Finnish conductor Mikko Franck has done superb work shaping the sound in his nine-year tenure with the orchestra, as an all-French program framing Sanctuaries demonstrated. He opened the evening with Louise Farrenc’s Overture no. 2 in E flat major, one of the many small pieces that has brought this overlooked composer new attention. Franck’s brisk treatment highlighted its dark-light contrasts and propulsive internal energy. For newcomers to Farrenc’s work, the amount of invention in less than ten minutes was remarkable.

After intermission, a deep dive into Ravel offered fresh, invigorating takes on some of his most familiar music, enhanced by strong dynamics and Franck’s smart, sensitive phrasing. A relaxed approach to the Daphnis et Chloé Suite no. 2 gave the piece a lush feel and inner glow, segueing smoothly from dreamy interludes to dramatic highs. Expert work in the woodwinds, in particular a virtuoso solo performance by principal flutist Magali Mosnier, added glimmering details. After a brooding opening, La Valse blossomed into elegant melodies and then driving dance rhythms. If it wasn’t quite dancing in heaven, as the composer envisioned, it was as powerful and precise as impressionist music gets, showing Franck’s absolute command of the material. A vibrant encore of the Menuet antique completed a thoroughly entertaining, three-dimensional portrait of the composer.

Co-commissioned by Prague Spring and Radio France, Sanctuaries will be given its French premiere by the same cast in December at the Grand Auditorium of the Maison de la Radio, bringing the Year of Czech Music in France to a close. Like festival-goers in Prague, the Paris audience is in for a treat.