Review of the concert in Graz
A stately brand of "Homeland" The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, under its Chief Conductor Vladimír Válek, made a guest appearance in the Stephaniensaal in Graz, where they offered Bedřich Smetana's Má vlast (My Country), one of the foundation stones of the Czech classical repertoire. The performance of the work was exemplary.
After the harp prologue in the first of six parts, Vyšehrad, the orchestra immersed itself effortlessly in the music and established itself with stately conviction. The strings played in wonderful synchrony, the soft sound enhanced by the woodwind, French horns and percussion, which came into their own later on with the entry of the trumpets and trombones. The most famous part of Smetana's portrait of his homeland, Vltava, Válek interpreted first as a view of the water and the fish (the woodwind were seemingly quite at home in the rapids), he then gradually rose up above the velvety surface of the string sound, maintaining his distance via a disciplined sound culture.
Thanks to the fact that this orchestra, playing as one mind, gave a performance of effortless and technical flawlessness, its audience was treated to an interpretation which raised practically no questions and, as the music drew to a close, intensified into an expression of succinct pathos. The complexly woven swirling triplets in From Bohemian Fields and Groves remained transparent, and Tábor and Blaník were energetic, meticulous and highly flexibly focused.
