The Czech Philharmonic’s guest appearance at Toronto’s Koerner Hall on Dec. 7 is part of a year-long series of concerts they are presenting the world-over in honour of the year of Czech music. Years that end in 4 often coincide with the anniversaries of the birth, death, or creation of key works of the most prominent Czech composers. 2024 coincides with anniversaries of several great Czech composers including the 200th of Bedřich Smetana’s birth and the 120th Antonín Dvořák’s death. Both were the focus of Dec. 7’s concert led by the orchestra’s Chief Conductor and Music Director, Semyon Bychkov.
Conductor Semyon Bychkov. Photo: Petra Hajská
The program’s first half featured Dvořák’s Piano Concerto in G Minor (1876, rev. 1882/3) played by international star pianist Daniil Trifonov. Unlike the same composer’s uber-famous cello concerto (also featured on the orchestra’s current tour), the piano concerto remains a relative rarity. As mentioned in the program, it has faced criticism from the start due to a perceived lack of virtuoso opportunities for the soloist, and the way the instrument is merged with the orchestra rather than in dramatic competition with it.
Pianist Daniil Trifonov at Koerner Hall. Photo: Petra Hajská
If the concerto lacks flashiness, then Bychkov, the Czech Philharmonic and Trifonov turned this into a virtue on Saturday night. Going into the concert, I had some trepidation that Koerner Hall’s relatively small 1,135 seat capacity and famously resonant acoustic might prove unsuitable for a large orchestra. Although Dvořák Hall at the Rudolfinum, the Czech Phil’s home base in Prague, has a similar number of seats, it is a more voluminous space with ample reflective columns and balconies to help balance the acoustic. My fears were quickly put to rest, however, as both the soloist-to-large-ensemble mix, as well as the balance between sections proved almost ideal.
Trifonov mined much of the subtlety and even some virtuosity from Dvořák’s score. Playful, and clean execution of the opening movement’s folk-like sections; a telling pointing of the bass melody in the second, and exquisite trills in the third enlivened his interpretation. As an encore, we got a swoon-worthy traversal of Mikhail Pletnev’s transcription of the adagio from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Sleeping Beauty. This was unabashedly Romantic in the best way, containing an entire orchestra’s worth of colour and sweep.
Czech Philharmonic conducted by Semyon Bychkov at Koerner Hall. Photo: Petra Hajská
The centrepiece of the concert came in the second half with three sections of that most iconic of all Czech pieces, Má vlast by Smetana. This set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879 famously depicts aspects of Bohemia’s countryside, history, and legends. It was, and still is, the quintessential expression of Czech national pride and therefore entirely suited to the orchestra’s overseas tour in this auspicious year celebrating Smetana.
The harp duet that launches the work’s opening section, “Vyšehrad”, was exquisitely played by Jana Boušková and Barbara Pazourová. Its magical harmonies set up a bardic invitation to the tales that will follow. The movement describes Prague’s Vyšehrad castle, the seat of the earliest Czech kings. Bychkov and his forces proved expert at contrasting the big, grand theme representing the castle against the more hushed dynamics which are also key to the section.
Here might be a good time to note the very distinctive sound of the Czech Philharmonic that distinguishes it from the plusher aesthetic favoured by North American orchestras. String tone is cleaner, woodwinds more pungent, horns blend rather than blare. This “national sound” was on full display at Koerner Hall and perhaps explains why its playing emerged so clear, direct and unsmudged in a space that can be overly resonant.
Barbara Pazourová and Jana Boušková (harpists) with the Czech Philharmonic. Photo: Petra Hajská
Má vlast’s second section, “Vltava”, also happens to be one of the most well-known pieces in the entire Classical music canon. In Smetana’s own words, it charts the course of the river Vltava as it “flows in a broad stream towards Prague.” The score’s descriptive ebb and flow was beautifully captured in a natural, unsentimental traversal of this chestnut. Next came “Šárka” named after the female warrior who led a legendary revolt against men in the 12th century. The orchestra let loose in this more agitated, violent section with its expressive lines for horns and a low, squawking oboe.
The encore was the first of Dvořák’s famous Slavonic Dances, ending the concert on a dance-rhythm-infused high. The repertoire presented by the Czech Phil on Dec. 7 is their bread and butter. And yet, there was no sense of routine. The musicians’ enthusiasm for their native repertoire was visible and palpable. Violinists sharing a smile; section leads digging into their instruments with full physical engagement and a maestro who inspired with his own obvious love for these cherished scores. Toronto audiences were lucky to receive this early Christmas gift from the Czech forces.
