Czech music continues to bloom in the London Symphony Orchestra's Bohemian Spring series. This concert of works by Dvorak and Janacek was divided with stubborn fairness between the composers - one choral and one orchestral work by each. It was an interesting programme that unearthed some rarities and found the orchestra responding as well as ever to their principal conductor Colin Davis. But it left one wishing for the impact that these forces might have generated with a really substantial symphonic work.
The Eternal Gospel, a "choral legend" based on the poet Vrchlicky's retelling of the words of a medieval prophet, was a departure for Janacek. Although combining lyrical and rousing episodes with an almost primeval feel, it remains an ungainly work. The relentless orations of the prophet didn't bring out the composer's most flowing music, yet the performers did their best to convince us otherwise. The prophet's words were declaimed with committed singing by Czech tenor Vladimir Dolezal, amply supported by the London Symphony Chorus on impressive form.
Gogol's Taras Bulba was another unlikely source of inspiration, but these gruesome tales of war, torture and filicide obviously struck a chord for Janacek, who used them as the basis for a three-movement orchestral rhapsody. Davis has a knackof finding the sharp edge of a piece of music and gently bringing it to the listener's attention; in this work he didn't have to dig too deep to find the foundations for an ominousatmosphere before stirring up a bitterly triumphal climax.
More surprisingly, Davis also managed to draw out an edge in Dvorak's Symphonic Variations, a showcase for the composer's techniques of orchestral invention. Musical undercurrents occasionally rippled the sweet, simple surface, before the main theme came scything through the orchestra as each instrument entered the fugal finale; the jaunty, tongue-in-cheek last page sounded as though Dvorak was having fun.
The Te Deum of 1892 found Dvorak at his most celebratory. The violins played their opening rustic melodies with vigour, preparing the way for some more strong singing from the choir. We had already heard the Slovakian soprano Andrea Dankova briefly in The Eternal Gospel; she brought a lustrous sheen to Te Deum, yet could have made a little more of her words. Fortissimo brass announced bass soloist Alastair Miles, who responded with resonant authority. Neither singer seemed to get under the skin of the work, but doubts were dispelled as Davis once again whipped up his forces into a jubilant close.
