Ondrej Lenárd at Prague Spring: A successful “flying visit”

This year’s exceptionally successful edition of the Prague Spring hasn’t run out of breath on the home straight. On the second last day of the festival, Saturday 2 June, a packed to the rafters Smetana Hall at the Municipal House was witness to an unusually brilliant performance of Antonín Dvořák’s Requiem, op. 89. According to the original programme the concert should have been conducted by Vladimír Válek, but he was unable to appear for health reasons. He was replaced on the conductor’s podium by the Slovak director Ondrej Lenárd, which turned out to be a fortunate choice.

In view of its scope, complicated structure, and the high demands it places on all its singers and musicians, Dvořák’s Requiem is an exceptionally demanding piece to perform. That was seen during its world premiere in Birmingham on 9 October 1891; despite the fact it was being conducted by its composer, it came very near to collapse at one point and it was only with great difficulty that the musicians managed to carry on. Fortunately nothing like that happened during Saturday’s concert at the Prague Spring. Quite the opposite. Ondrej Lenárd conducted the whole piece with great overview, without flamboyance, and with clear gestures to the orchestra, choir and soloists. It was evident that he had the entire composition firmly “in hand”.

Thorough study of the piece, however, was not to the detriment of the live musiciality that is the hallmark of Lenárd’s style of interpretation. This was chiefly seen in the choice of a relatively lively tempo, which, surprisingly, did not detract at all from the grandeur and depth of the composition, which is serious in mood. In this conception, passages with a clearer atmosphere (the Quam olim Abrahae fugue or Domine Jesu Christe), which created an effective counterweight to the gloomy parts in the piece’s first half, sounded best. One of the most affecting moments in the performance was the wonderfully executed concluding gradation of the Lacrimosa section.

The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra again demonstrated its quality, both in terms of the overall sound and in individual solos. In this respect, let us mention at least the violin solo in the Hostias part. Another striking aspect of the orchestra’s playing was the satiated, compact sound of the string section, which in this piece has an important role in its repeated presence within the central motif. In addition, the quartet of soloists Pavla Vykopalová, Kateřina Jalovcová, Aleš Briscein and Zdeněk Plech contributed – with certain reservations – to the performance’s overall positive impression. Each of them handled their part successfully, but the voices sounded better during solos than together in a quartet, where it was apparent that the colours of their voices were not overly in tune with one another.

The Prague Philharmonic Choir under choirmaster Lukáš Vasilek was, as ever, excellent. In some passages, however, it was swallowed up by the sound of the orchestra, which can be blamed on the less than ideal acoustics of the Smetana Hall.

Performing Dvořák’s Requiem can be regarded as a praiseworthy dramaturgical undertaking. In spite of the fact that interest in the piece has grown somewhat in recent years, it could still be classed as underappreciated. The best advertisement for it is the performance that we witnessed at this year’s Prague Spring the day before yesterday.