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Chicago Dvořak Festival 2009 - Opening Concert:  Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Janine Jansen, violin, Sir Mark Elder, CBE, conductor, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Center, Chicago 7.6.2009 (JLZ)

Anton Dvořak: Scherzo capriccioso, Op. 66
Anton Dvořak: Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53
Anton Dvořak: Symphony no. 7 in D minor, Op. 70


The  Chicago Symphony Orchestra' 2008-2009 season ends with a festival of Dvořak’s music in a series of concerts programming a selection of the composer’s music in various genres. For the first program, Sir Mark Elder, BCE, opened the concert with some personal remarks about the festival's goal of exploring the music of a major composer whose legacy is usually represented by only a fraction of his extensive output. This invitation to explore Dvořak’s music further began the Scherzo capriccioso, a work much better known to audiences a hundred years ago  when CSO founder Theodore Thomas included it in several programs, and which was also fairly regularly performed during the first half of the twentieth century. Absent from the programs of the CSO for over four decades, this performance was a fine way to open the current festival. As he conducted the work from memory, Elder was able to bring out of the score's melodic invention and bright orchestration to the full.  The enthusiastic audience response  demonstrated that the luscious and folksy music that Dvořak put into the piece does make the Scherzo capriccioso a substantial work which remains appealing to  modern audiences.

At the center of the program, Dvorak’s Violin Concerto received scintillating treatments from both the conductor Mark Elder and  soloist Janine Jansen. Jansen demonstrated her commitment to  the work not only in her appealing interpretation, which was not only technically accurate, but stylistically appropriate. Her command of the instrument allowed the flourishes at the opening of the first movement to seem effortless, and the later double stops were nicely clear and balanced. The upper-position pitches were as even and intensive as those in the lower registers, with a full, resonant sound throughout. At times Jansen moved about physically as the intensity of the piece took hold of her.  Elder accompanied discreetly, with unobtrusive cues that reinforced the already tight ensemble between soloist and orchestra. A work of Dvořaks maturity, which the composer undertook in 1879 shortly after the premiere of  the Brahms Violin Concerto, its full sounds echo the sonorities in the more famous Cello Concerto. Yet the more delicate scoring in the Violin Concerto received rapt attention in this performance. With Elder’s decision to seat the violins antiphonally at the front of the stage, the cellos were just behind Jansen, allowing the duet-like passages between the solo violin and cello to emerge  particularly clearly. Similarly, the passages in the solo violin almost accompanies the orchestra were greatly enhanced by this seating plan, resulting in  an intense and persuasive reading. Jansen's technique and sense of style were always impressive in contrasting the emotional intensity of the first movement seamlessly with the lyricism of the second, and the resulting continuity contributed to a fine sense of wholeness. Her unflagging precision flowed on into the Finale, as she brought the piece to a brilliant conclusion.

The second half of the program had Elder lesding the CSO in an equally intense reading of the Seventh Symphony in D minor. Regarded highly in the composer’s lifetime, it remains a strong work, which benefits enormously when played by a fine orchestra like the CSO. The first Allegro maestoso movement was notable for the contrast between the rolling first theme and its almost brutal climax and the oscillating second subject in which the dancing clarinets are subtly dragged into a struggle with earlier subject matter leading eventually to a full recapitulation and almost almost despairing conclusion.  The ideas in the lamenting Poco adagio  all emerged completely logically: quieter passages were nicely weighted and  flutist Dufour and oboist Izotov worked beautifully  together, as they sometimes lingered at the cadences in the central section. The Scherzo, based on the carefree Czech furiant dance rhythm,  also benefited enormously from the antiphonal violins  which allowed Elder to  distinguish Scherzo from Trio by introducing not just the usual temporal differences, but a timbral one which set up, as it were, the Scherzo's reprise marvellously. Yet it was the Finale that ultimately stood out most of all -   bringing the work to a hugely satisfying conclusion with its sharp contrasts between its anguished marching lilting cello subject before ending  in  a blaze of grief rather than joy. The  familiar work took on dimensions in this live performance that sometimes defeat even the best recordings. The interplay all sections of the orchestra was dramatic, with a  brass sound  that was full and balanced.

All in all, the program was a fine start to the Festival, which includes  varied and interesting selections of Dvořak’s music. With some of the concerts already sold out, the CSO audiences have already demonstrated their interest and commitment to this unique opportunity to explore this composer with fresh ears.

James L Zychowicz


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