Although Leos Janacek’s masterly opera,
"The Makropulos Case," was recently heard at the Brooklyn
Academy of Music courtesy of the Glyndebourne Festival, most
listeners are unfamiliar with the glorious music of the former
Czech Republic.
But that’s all changing, thanks in part
to the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, whose "Festival of Czech
Music" is in full swing.
As part of its ongoing Signature Series
at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble
is presenting a superb combination of Czech masters. On Sunday,
in the museum’s Cantor Auditorium, the ensemble will perform
chamber music by Janacek, Antonin Dvorak and Antonin Reicha,
another acclaimed Czech composer of the 18th century whose music
has been overshadowed, not only by his later and more famous
countrymen, but by his friend and contemporary, Joseph Haydn.
Reicha, who spent much of his composing
career living in Paris, wrote music as graceful and charming
as many native Parisian composers. His Quartet No. 2 for flute
and strings is one of six that he published as his Opus 98, all
directly inspired by Haydn himself.
Although Janacek’s most renowned compositions
are from later in life – he was that rare composer who didn’t
reach full maturity until he had been at it for years, and then
strung together several masterworks – his Suite for Strings is
an early piece, from his mid-20s. Unlike the later works, which
all have the stamp of individual genius, this suite wears its
influences boldly and baldly, from the Wagner’s opera "Lohengrin"
to the operas of Janacek’s compatriot, Bedrich Smetana.
The Dvorak work on the program, the Serenade
for Winds in D Minor, was written in 1878 when the budding master
was just gaining fame outside of his homeland. It too draws on
obvious influences: Dvorak’s own time spent in a village band
and the grand Bohemian wind serenade tradition.
The St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble concert
at the Brooklyn Museum of Art should then prod Brooklyn music
lovers across the East River for Lincoln Center’s concurrent
Great Performers Czech music series. "From the Homeland:
A Festival of Czech Music" is a multimedia event that includes
orchestral concerts, chamber music and song recitals, films,
lectures and a one-of-a-kind theatrical staging.
With the return of the London Symphony
Orchestra to Avery Fisher Hall under the direction of Sir Colin
Davis, Lincoln Center’s Czech series may just reach its considerable
musical peak April 29-May 5.
The Londoners will perform some of the
large-scale Czech works that are seldom heard today, including
Janacek’s thrilling "Taras Bulba" and "Glagolitic
Mass," Dvorak’s thunderous "Te Deum," Eighth Symphony
and Violin Concerto – with none other than Sarah Chang as the
soloist – and the luxurious Rhapsody Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
of Bohuslav Martinu, another brilliant Czech composer of the
first half of the 20th century, and the one with the most cosmopolitan
musical outlook: he lived in Paris for awhile, as well as the
United States. (Paul Silverthorne is the violist in the Martinu
work.)
Also on the boards at Lincoln Center are
two biographical films, "The Lion with a White Mane"
(about Janacek) and "Antonin Dvorak, a Documentary"
(both April 23, Walter Reade Theater); a Czech music symposium
(April 28, Kaplan Penthouse); the American debut of the exciting
young Czech mezzo Magdelena Kozena (May 7, Walter Reade Theater),
singing songs of her countrymen, the by now familiar triumvirate
of Dvorak, Janacek and Martinu; and the New York premiere of
an audacious staging of the shattering Janacek song-cycle "Diary
of One Who Vanished," in a new English translation by poet
Seamus Heaney (May 31, June 1 and 2, John Jay Theater).
The Janacek cycle will be sung by the superb
British tenor Ian Bostridge and mezzo Ruby Philogene, accompanied
by pianist Julius Drake. Daring director Deborah Warner stages
what should be unstageable – these dramatic, emotional songs
were not written to be acted out – but word from abroad suggests
these artists may actually have deepened the meaning of one of
the great musical works of this past century.
Thanks to the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and
Lincoln Center, the largely unheralded riches of Czech music
are starting to be re-discovered and savored.
The Orchestra of St. Luke’s Chamber
Ensemble will perform at the Brooklyn Museum of Art [200 Eastern
Parkway, Cantor Auditorium] at 2 pm on April 22. Tickets are
$20, $15 seniors, students and members of the Brooklyn Museum.
For tickets, call the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at (212) 594-6100,
ext. 111. For more information, visit the Web site www.stlukes.cc.
For more information about the Great Performers program call
(212) 875-5937 or visit www.lincolncenter.org on the Web.
