A high-energy season opener at Dvořák’s Prague

By Frank Kuznik, 08 September 2021

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“if the finale threatened to blow the roof off the Rudolfinum, that was fine with the audience”

Reviewed at Rudolfinum: Dvořák Hall, Prague on 7 September 2021

Weber, Der Freischütz: Overture

Mozart, Violin Concerto no. 3 in G major, "Strassburg", K216

Bach, Violin partita no. 2 in D minor, BWV1004: Sarabande

Brahms, Symphony no. 2 in D major, Op.73

Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia: Overture

Julian Rachlin, Violin

Filarmonica della Scala

Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Conductor

Viotti brings Italianate sunshine to Russian repertoire in Milan

Mark Pullinger, 24th February

Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings and Rachmaninov's Second Symphony are given urgent, ardent readings by the Filarmonica della Scala.

****1

Grafenegg Festival ends with bittersweet Strauss from Renée Fleming

Laurence Vittes, 5th September

The soprano is lifted to lyrical heights by the Filarmonia della Scala and Andrés Orozco-Estrada at the open air Wolkenturm on the final night of the festival.

*****

Magnificent Beethoven tribute from Chailly in Antwerp

Marc Haegeman, 23rd January

"Beethoven 250" starts in grand form with thrilling performances of Egmont and Symphonies 5 and 8 in Antwerp.

*****

Lightweight Beethoven from Chailly and the Filarmonica della Scala

James Imam, 4th November

This lightweight, combustive account lacked bluster, sourcing tension from its forward momentum.

****1

Gardner and Levit invigorate the Filarmonica della Scala

James Imam, 11th March

Edward Gardner clearly has a thing for the Czechs. A month after he made his Royal Opera main-stage debut with Janáček's Katya Kabanova, here he was with the Filarmonica della Scala to conduct a strongly Czech programme.

****1

Lorenzo Viotti debuts with the Filarmonica della Scala

James Imam, 31st October

Viotti will return to La Scala to conduct Gounod's Roméo et Juliette in 2020. The programme this time round gave an indication of some of the positive qualities to expect. It also warned of some potential pitfalls.

****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.

A high-energy season opener from the Filarmonica della Scala at Dvořák’s Prague