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Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov

The 19th Century brought romantic as well as chilling stories and the versatility of the MSO delivers them with customary fervour.
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Conductor Jakub Hrůša; image via www.janackuvmaj.cz

Before I go into raptures about this concert because it does, indeed, deserve it, I feel I must alert you to the fact that, after Monday night’s concert, there will be a Post-Concert Conversation at 8.30 pm, a golden opportunity for insight into such a masterful production.

And what an honour for Victorians to have a conductor from the Czech republic visit our country to play the music of his country. Apart from being the Chief Conductor and Musical Director of the Prague Philharmonic, Jakub Hrůša, at only 34 years of age, is already a revered guest at many of the most prestigious orchestras in the world.

This will be the second time he has conducted Smetana’s music at Hamer Hall. The first, of Mà Vlast in 2014 was, according to Sir Andrew Davis, ‘a great performance,’ and Thursday night’s presentation of the Overture to The Bartered Bride certainly carried on that tradition.

Bedrich Smetana was considered to be the father of Czech opera and, in the manner of romantic comedies written in the mid-19th century, The Bartered Bride burst onto the Hamer Hall stage with a dramatic violin opening that built to a crescendo like a hoard of buzzing bees leading us straight to the Czech countryside on a beautiful sunny day, with people milling around the local square, dancing and falling in love. Hrůśa’s incredible energy and precise control of the orchestra was infectious and this was an excellent choice to set the tone for the evening. I couldn’t help thinking what a colourful addition it would have been if this wonderful conductor had been in national costume or that there had been some acknowledgement of the country around the stage, especially with Smetana followed by another Czech composer, Antonin Dvorak.

While Dvorak’s Violin Concerto in A Minor Op. 53 is the only one he wrote, it came to be regarded as a masterpiece and an essential part of his ‘Slavic period’.

Guest violinist, Jack Liebeck, Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London and, also in his thirties, is already an international phenomenon and it was a pleasure to watch his movements with the violin.

It is refreshing to see such young people, not only carrying on the traditions of wonderful music but also, like Richard Tognetti with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, extending themselves in new and exciting ways. Liebeck is a member of the Trio Dali in Paris and was soloist for film scores of Jane Eyre and Anna Karenina. He has also appeared with renowned physicist, Brian Cox, in a lecture/concert with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and is Music and Artistic Director of Oxford May Music Festival of music, science and the arts.

The synchronicity of Hrůśa’s conducting and Liebeck’s playing made this multi-layered concerto the essence of perfection and the audience responded in kind, eliciting from Liebek an unaccompanied and equally exquisite encore by Greig,

Apart from the romantic frolics in the 19th century, potentates could also have little regard for human life and no better than a Russian composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, to bring the two sides of the gruesome story of The Arabian Nights to musical life. The story o, Scheherazade, the clever Sultan’s wife who avoided beheading by charming him with her 1001 Tales, subtly unfolded through the amazing  versatility of the MSO. The complex production required the addition of harp, cor anglais and the particular expertise of the lead violinist, Eoin Andersen, flutes, piccolos and percussion, to name a few.

Hrůśa’s definitive conducting expertly guided the four movements from the first sombre entry of the trombones through the sweet combination of harp and violin and back again, rising and ebbing like a giant ocean wave as Scheherazade seduced her husband with her words.

Statements made by any one instrument, like the french horn, for example, were carried over to the violins to be tossed back to the cellos followed by flutes and piccolos, round and round, seducing the audience with mounting momentum.

Oboe, clarinet and bassoon all vied for position, as did the distant tinkling of the triangle and tambourine, not to mention the ever-accurate beat from the stand-alone female percussionist.

This captivating story has brought pleasure through the written word as well as the demanding musical composition for generations, and will continue to do so, when people of such talent produce it.

While the audience was fulsome in its applause, I did feel they had lead in their feet as the conductor honoured the various performers and brought the orchestra to its feet twice. A standing ovation would not have been too much to expect.                         

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Scheherazade
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Smetana – The Bartered Bride: Overture
DvoÅ™ák – Violin Concerto
Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade    
Jakub Hrůša – conductor
Jack Liebeck – violin

Hamer Hall, Melbourne
1-5 October 2015


Barbara Booth
About the Author
Barbara Booth has been a freelance journalist for over 20 years, published nationally in newspapers and magazines including The Age, The Canberra Times, The West Australian, Qantas Club magazine, Home Beautiful, and OzArts. She is now based in Melbourne.