This was the third of the three concerts for the Bamberger Symphoniker's residency. The players of many orchestras drift to their desks so that all are in place when the conductor arrives. Not so the Bamberger - they come on together to the audience's applause and it's impressive. The evening's Czeck music had the theme of father and son-in-law. For Joseph Suk was Antonin Dvorák's pupil at the Prague Conservatory and who married Dvorák's daughter.
We started with a canticle composed for the concert stage rather than, for instance, Morning Prayer in an Anglican church or cathedral. The singing of Dvorák's Te Deum was shared between two very experienced Czech soloists, the soprano Katerina Knežiková and the baritone Adam Plachetka, and with the mighty Edinburgh Festival Chorus, all 140 or so of them under James Grossmith's direction. Sung in Latin, it was a worthy interpretation of the well known canticle in the Dvorák style.
After the interval Jakub Hruša was back on the podium to conduct the hour-long Suk Symphony known as Asrael, the angel of death. It tells the sad story of first the death of Antonin Dvorák, to be followed soon after by the death of his daughter, Suk's wife, at the age of 27. Suk was in despair and his anger with the world is heard in the extended start of the Symphony - to be followed by a funeral march. Only then does it quieten down to pay respect to his wife Otilie before ending in a crisis between despair and hope. The Bamberger Symphoniker certainly gave us the emotions Suk had experienced in a most convincing performance. I have greatly enjoyed all three of their Edinburgh Festival residency concerts this past week.
Event: Friday 9th August 2024 at 7.30pm