|
Earthy Vigour
Smetana, Beethoven and Sibelius
from Jennifer Pike, Pietari Inkinen
and the Prague Symphony Orchestra,
impress MIKE WHEELER
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, as we know, and that certainly applies to the legendary Czech figure of Šárka, whose murderous act of revenge against men after being dumped by her lover is detailed in the third of the tone-poems that make up Smetana's Má Vlast.
Under Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen, the Prague Symphony Orchestra (Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, UK, 27 November 2015) tore into Smetana's colourful story-telling with relish. The stormy opening, the plaintive clarinet solos, the lively polka rhythms and the savagery of the culminating massacre all leaped vividly off the page...
Copyright © 9 December 2015
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK
|
