A versatile NHK shines at Prague Spring

Akiko Suwanai and the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo

Fabio Luisi

Fabio Luisi conducts the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo

By Frank Kuznik, 16 May 2025

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“the performance offered a reminder that music doesn’t need to be loud to be good”

Reviewed at Rudolfinum: Dvořák Hall, Prague on 15 May 2025

Takemitsu, Three film scores

Berg, Violin Concerto "To the Memory of an Angel"

Brahms, Symphony no. 4 in E minor, Op.98

Fabio Luisi, Conductor

Akiko Suwanai, Violin

NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo

María Dueñas lets Beethoven breathe at Suntory Hall

SangKwon Lee, 19th September

María Dueñas’ Tokyo performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto is less about display than about the living drama between held breath and release.

*****

Luisi opens NHKSO's new season with Franz Schmidt

Nahoko Gotoh, 13th September

As a leading exponent of Franz Schmidt's music, conductor Fabio Luisi leads the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo in a rare performance of his Fourth Symphony for the orchestra's season opener.

****1

Joyful Mozart from Ton Koopman and the NHK Symphony

Nahoko Gotoh, 21st September

At Suntory Hall, Ton Koopman and the NHK Symphony Orchestra bring elegance and exuberance to an all-Mozart programme including a flute concerto featuring its principal flautist.

****1

Luisi and the NHK SO begin partnership with a Requiem for our times

Nahoko Gotoh, 11th September

For whatever reason Fabio Luisi chose Verdi's Requiem for his inauguration concert with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, it turned out to be an apt and poignant choice.

****1

Radiant Szymanowski from Isabelle Faust in Tokyo

Nahoko Gotoh, 13th February

One of the few upsides to the current Covid-19 pandemic for the classical music world in Japan is that it has given opportunities to young home-grown talent.

****1

Passionate, ebullient Rachmaninov from Paavo Jarvi and the NHK

Mark Pullinger, 24th February

Igor Stravinsky once described Sergei Rachmaninov as "a six-and-a-half foot scowl". His Second Symphony – often a lugubrious affair – was here turned into something urgent and vital.

****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.