SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Dvořák: Janice Watson (soprano); Dagmar Pecková (mezzo); Peter Auty (tenor); Peter Rose (bass); London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra/Neeme Järvi. Royal Festival Hall, London. 9.10. 2010 (CC)

Te Deum, Op. 103

Stabat Mater, Op. 58

After memorable accounts of orchestral music by Suk and Dvořák earlier in the week, Neeme Järvi turned his attention to two of Dvořák’s choral works. These pieces, particularly perhaps the Stabat Mater, deserve more frequent performances. They are superlatively crafted pieces, full of heart-felt devotion. Järvi’s accounts were in many respects excellent (particularly the Te Deum), but the Stabat Mater lacked that final element of rapport with the text and spirit.

The Te Deum (1892) is a mere twenty minutes long and is scored for solo soprano, solo bass, choir and orchestra. Järvi’s was a superlative account. Only some loss of string definition at times could be counted against it. Janice Watson’s contributions were positively radiant. The purity of her “Dignare, Domine” in the work’s final panel was magic. In many ways, Watson reminds me of Susan Gritton in her direct musicality. Peter Rose, the bass soloist, was full-bodied of voice and authoritative. The chorus excelled in the third movement, the agitated “Aeterna fac cum Sanctis tuis in gloria numerari”. Järvi led the forces to a rousing conclusion.

Back in 2007, I reviewed a superlative Arthaus DVD of the Stabat Mater, conducted by Neumann. An earlier work than the Te Deum (it was written in 1876/77), it lasts around 85 minutes. In Järvi’s hands, the important descending lines of the initial “Stabat Mater dolorosa” were rather literal, and they similarly lacked dramatic resonance on their return in the ninth movement (“Inflammatus et accensus”). Despite excellent, well-balanced choral work and some sterling solo contributions, the feeling was that we never got inside the music. The closest Järvi came was in the choral pleas, “Eia, mater, fons amoris” (O mother, fount of love, make me feel the strength of thy grief”), where he seemed to find the perfect tempo. The final movement sought to redress the balance with a wonderful “Paradisi gloria” and a miraculous unaccompanied choral moment near the end. It was not enough to erase memories of the performance’s structural shortcomings, however (this final movement should have felt like the natural summation of emotions previously invoked and their resolution in Paradise).

Janice Watson’s strengths remained unabated in the second part of the concert. Dagmar Pecková replaced an indisposed Sara Fulgoni. Pecková is a remarkable musician. Her contribution to the second movement (“Quis est homo”) was creamy and lovely, yet impassioned; she also provided an ardent plea in the penultimate “Inflammatus et accensus”. Unfortunately in this latter instance, she was occasionally drowned by the orchestra, something that seemed to be Järvi’s miscalculation. The tenor (Peter Auty) was superbly focussed and his lines were well-projected. Peter Rose, the bass soloist, was remarkably commanding in his “Fac et ardeat cor meum” (the fourth movement).

The London Philharmonic Choir remains a superb group, working impressively as a single body at either end of the dynamic spectrum. The soloists, despite a last-minute substitution, remained impressive. Yet the niggling realisation that, in the Stabat Mater at least, Dvořák’s genius had not been done justice, remained.

Given that Dvořák’s Requiem conducted by Järvi has appeared on the LPO’s own label (LPO-0042), it is not unreasonable to expect that these performances might, also, be issued in due course.

Colin Clarke