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Foerster and Haydn: Inga Kalna (soprano), Michelle Breedt (mezzo soprano), Benjamin Bruns (tenor), Carsten Sabrowski (bass), Prague Chamber Choir. Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Gerd Albrecht, Rudolfinum, Dvorak Hall, Prague, 9.4.2009 (GD)

Josef Bohuslav Foerster: Cyrano de Bergerac, Suite for large orchestra. Op, 55
Haydn: The Seven Last words of Christ on the Cross, for solo voices, choir and orchestra.


The Czech Philharmonic, like the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Dresden Staatskapelle, is one of the great European orchestras that has not succumbed to any kind of standardised streamlining. And heard in its traditional home, the Rudolfinum in Prague, with its wonderfully spacious, natural but absolutely clear acoustic in which you can hear the space around the music, each of their concerts is an important (special) musical event. The whole string section plays like a string quartet, with stunning tonal diversity, each section both distinct and in total accord with the rest of the string groupings and the whole orchestra; the woodwinds have that wonderful poetic, but grainy, sound, and the brass, especially the horns, have a distinctly plangent tone, distinctly 'eastern' as compared with say the more full-throated tone of the Vienna Philharmonic's brass/horn section.

Gerd Albrecht has a very close relationship with the orchestra having been its chief conductor in the first part of the 90's, and now an honorary guest conductor; quite unique for a non-Czech, German conductor!  The unostentatiously confident way in which Albrecht conducted (what a superbly economic baton technique!), with total integrity and concentration, but also just the right degree of flexibility, all the time relayed to both orchestra and audience, betrayed his 74 years! It was quite a warm evening in Prague and Albrecht accordingly dispensed with the shenanigans of full conventional conductors tails and waistcoats replacing these with a simple lounge suit and a white open neck shirt. It had me wondering why more conductors don't adopt this far more suitable and comfortable sartorial code? Foersters 'Cyrano de Bergerac' suite for large orchestra is not much played today; I have never heard it programmed in London! It certainly deserves to be played more often. It is exactly the kind of neglected work that Albrecht specialises in. Never succumbing to more lucrative 'popular' programming Albrecht has always championed neglected composers and neglected works both old and new. Perhaps one reason why he hardly ever conducts in London, if at all? where the demand to fill concert halls is a big priority. Foerster's work is in five extended, decidedly symphonic, movements. Although Bergerac is mostly known as a 17th Century French soldier and adventurer, he was also something of a natural philosopher who translated Promethean myths into the possibility of moon travel! But Foerster is more interested in Cyrano's covert love for his younger cousin Roxanne, in the form of confessional love letters. Each of the five contrasted section deals with the theme of what we today would call repressed love/desire. Indeed, in the opening chromatic strains of the first 'Allegro con moto, Animato' I could detect shades of dissonant modulation redolent of 'Tristan'! The next, Andante sostenuto, where Albrecht achieved a real sustained pianissimo, makes some reference to Czech folk inflections. But I also heard the influence of French composers like Franck, Chausson, and even Faure!, also Max Reger (another Albrecht speciality) The 'Allegro vivo' and 'Allegro deciso', which includes a depiction of the grotesque (tragic) irony of Cyrano having to chaperone Roxanne with her new young lover! allowed plenty of musical content and space to show off the orchestras incredible rhythmic precision and dynamic diversity. But under Albrecht it never quite degenerated into 'show' for the sake of show! The repeated chromatic ff staccato figures on trombone/bass trombone at the close of the 'Allegro deciso' had about them a raw, bleak energy all the more effective as registering a frisson in total contrast to the sustained intensity of the preceding section. The following 'Amoroso' love music, and the beautifully moulded fading away of the love motive, as an allegory of Cyrano's death at the works conclusion, were as compellingly beautiful as anything I have heard in concert for a long time. It almost goes without saying that Albrecht employed antiphonal violins to fascinating effect throughout the concert.

Haydn's oratorio on Christ's last words and suffering on the cross was commissioned to be performed in the Church of Santa Cueva in Cadiz, Spain, in the Easter week of 1787. It has since been arranged in many versions including those for organ, piano, string quartet (Haydn's own arrangement) and chamber orchestra. For the Easter week of 2009 Albrect performed the full oratorio version with choir, soloists and  classical orchestra. From the stern D minor introduction with its double-dotted notes and bold modulations, to the final E flat version of the 'Eartquake', after the death of Christ, Albrecht imbued every nuance with just the right blend of solemnity, drama and noble, even stoical, serenity; a complete understanding of Haydn's idiom rather in the tradition of the great Hans Rosbaud. All the soloists were in excellent form, particularly the dramatic soprano of Inga Kalna and the bass of Carsten Sabrowski. In the great concerted movements with full orchestra, choir and soloists, such as the allusion to the 'Stabat Mater' in the third movement, 'Frau, hier siehe deinen Sohn' ('Woman behold thy son'), the full clarity of choir, orchestra and soloists was exemplary, one never occluding the other. With the exception of the closing earthquake all the other movements are measured with markings like 'maestoso' and 'adagio' but with Albrecht nothing ever dragged. There was a sustained stoical intensity intensity as in the almost bi-tonal harmonies of No 6 'Es ist Vollbracht' ('it is finished'). The second introduction which precedes No 5, 'I thirst', formed a magical G minor transition to the furious outbursts from the chorus proclaiming the guilt in redemption felt at Christ's suffering; the elaborate polyphony here, mostly in strings and woodwind, was articulated with an ear for perfect harmonic balance between chorus and orchestra.

Throughout, the Prague Chamber Choir, trained by Robert Hugo, sang with great clarity, perfect pitch and very accomplished German, their dymanic range was quite remarkable from the cutting enunciations of No 5 (already mentioned) to the sustained 'Sotto voce' of No 4, 'Mein Gott, mein Gott'. This performance had all the clarity of a 'period' performance while delivering a tonal, emotional, dramatic range few 'period' performances could match. As I came out of the Rudolfinum a beautiful view (on a beautiful night) of the outline of the St Vitus Cathedral on the uppermost reach of Prague's famous castle, was available. It seemed to me  that this resplendent baroque/gothic image perfectly complimented the great music still ringing in my ears, made all the more compelling in the interpretation of a master conductor in charge of superlative musical forces.

Geoff Diggines


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