REVIEW: Gerhardt and Liebreich impress with Shostakovich and more
The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra invited two distinctive German musicians, the conductor Alexander Liebreich and the cellist Alban Gerhardt, to perform at a special concert it held at the Dvořák Hall of Prague’s Rudolfinum on 29 October.
They had prepared a programme together comprising works by Terezín composer Pavel Haas, Dmitri Shostakovich and Johannes Brahms. The evening had major social kudos as part of the Echoes of the Czech-German Cultural Spring 2017 project, which is an initiative of various Czech and German institutions and involved the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prague and the Goethe Institute.
The opening, polyphonically-worked A Study for Strings by Pavel Haas afforded the orchestra’s string section the opportunity to display precision of intonation and rhythmic coordination in the complex polyphonic web of voices. The precise gestures of Alexander Liebreich also helped the players meet the score’s demands. The piece, in which the composer tested his mastery of the fugue as a traditional musical form, originated in a concentration camp. Nevertheless, it is refined in terms of composition and balanced in mood, which showed that it is not always necessary to look for a link between a composer’s music and life story.
Alban Gerhardt gave a commanding and in every regard extraordinary performance on the following piece, the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 in E-flat major, op. 107 by Shostakovich. He enchanted the audience with the uncommonly vocal nature of his instrument and technical perfection, radiating devotion and dedication to the music being performed. Gerhardt gave the impression of being not only fully at home with his instrument but also of identifying wholly with Shostakovich’s music. In him the composer has found a great interpreter. High technical and tonal quality laid the necessary foundations for the expressive nuance with which Gerhardt topped the piece off in an original manner.
Also worthy of mention is the great performance of horn player Jana Švadlenková, who in the demanding solo part for French horn accompanied the solo cello excellently in terms of rhythm and colour. The audience applauded an added piece, Bach’s Prelude from the Suite No. 6 in G major, on which Gerhardt’s excellent performance intensified even further.
Following this exhausting rendition it was nice to see Gerhardt take the unusual step of joining the orchestra for Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor, playing the orchestral part in the cello section. Now those are admirable energy levels!
Alexander Liebreich, freshly appointed as artistic director of the Richard Strauss festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, displayed great preparedness throughout the programme. He can take major credit for the performance of the orchestra, which he helmed to exemplary expressiveness, naturally not neglecting the appropriate dose of emotionality.
This was particularly apparent on Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor, op. 98, which he duly enjoyed. Despite the fact that the rendition did not stray from the framework of traditional interpretation of the piece, I was taken by the commitment of all the musicians and the attempt to express musical emotions via transformations of expression and dynamics. Liebreich added to all of this with his knowledge of every detail and the clear, precise gestures with which he communicated his conception of the expressive shades and metro-rhythmic and formal logic of the music being interpreted.
We can already look forward to Alexander Leibreich’s appearance in the regular PRSO season-ticket holders’ series in March next year.
