Mini reviews: Die Apokalpyse (Leipzig), Don Buoso/Gianni Schicchi (Prague), and the Prague Philharmonia

While touring earlier in June with the Bach Cantata Choir, I was able to attend a few events that I’ll briefly recount in this missive. On the evening of June 11, I went to the Oper Leipzig, where I experienced “Die Apokalypse” which had the intriguing subtitle “Die Oper, die Bach nie gescrieben hat” (“The opera that Bach never wrote”). The subtitle referred to the music, written by composer Panos Illiopoulos, who borrowed at times directly from J.S. Bach, yet skillfully segued to his own music. The musical smorgasbord was undergirded with an evocative libretto by Thomas Höft to retell the turbulent story of the Münster Rebellion (1534), and consequential Siege of Münster (1535).

Presented by Opera2day and the Niederlandse Bachvereniging under its conductor, Hernán Schvartzman with stage directions by Serge van Veggel, “Die Apokalypse” delivered a grim picture but accurate picture of the historical events via exceptional singing, acting, and orchestral accompaniment. An outstanding cast was led by tenor Florian Sievers as John of Leiden, who became the self-proclaimed king of the city, which he called the New Jerusalem. The complicated history of what happened can be found online, and the opera, in the end, was not uplifting, but rather a cautionary tale.

As part of our tour, the Bach Cantata Choir travelled to Prague, Czech Republic, where we sang a concert at the Church of Sts. Simon and Jude. The evening before our concert, I attended an operatic double-bill at the National Theater. The first half was a new one-acter called “Don Buoso.” It was newly devised prequel to the second half, Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.” With music written by Czech composer Jan Kučera and a libretto by Czech director David Radok, “Don Buoso” had a Puccini-like touch, but the comic elements were toast. I agree with Frank Kuznik’s review in Bachtrack, but he left out one extra detail, when the famous aria “O mio babbino caro” was sung by Doubravka Součková (in the role of Schicchi’s daughter Lauretta) she did it while straddling Schicchi (Svatopluk Sem) who was seated. That hyper-sexual positioning seemed unnecessary, especially since Lauretta was pleading to marrying her boyfriend. Oh well, since the greedy relatives of Don Buoso suffocated him with pillows and most of them fell lifeless to the floor after Schicchi throws them out of the house, the double-bill became another cautionary tale.

Ceiling of the National Theater in Prague

I haven’t seen television cameras at a symphonic concert in a long, long time, but cameras were on hand in the balcony of the Rudolfinum for the Prague Philharmonia’s season finale (June 15). I was sitting not far from the camera crew, which perhaps was a local news outlet, and they stayed for a bit of the first piece in the program, which began with Bohuslav Martinů’s “Overture for Orchestra” and followed with Franz Liszt’s “Piano Concerto No. 1” with George Li as soloist, before slipping away quietly.

The orchestra, under its Music Director and Chief Conductor, Emmanuel Villaume, cruised through the Martinů with elan. Sometimes the piece sounded a bit like a Baroque fanfare, and it ended satisfyingly with an Amen. When the piano was moved into place, the seating because a little tight, because the stage is not all that large. No matter. The Liszt received a superb performance from Li, who easily articulated the fastest of passages and played the dreamy slow, second movement with grace. Li’s sound only got buried by the orchestra in the last bars of the finale, but the audience was more than happy with his terrific pianism. Li followed that piece with a masterful rendition of Liszt’s “Hungarian Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra,” which brought down the house. He then gave a sublime performance of Schumann-Liszt’s “Widmung.”

After intermission, the orchestra played Vítězslava Kaprálová’s “Suite Rustica.” Kaprálová (1915-1940) was a Czech composer and conductor who had some success, but died too young. Her “Suite Rustica” started off with a boisterous first movement (Allegro rustico) that seemed slightly Slavic. The cellos had lovely folk-like melody in the beginning of the second movement (“Lento”) before handing it off to the rest of the orchestra. That transitioned to waltz with a new thematic line before returning to the melody and ending with the feeling of a question. The third movement (“Allegro ma non troppo”) featured a peppery march and a lot of off-beat accents before going into a fugue and finishing off with a fortissimo wrap. Hmmm… perhaps the Oregon Symphony can consider one of Kaprálová’s works for a concert in the future.

The concert concluded with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, which the orchestra played with gusto. However, it would have been more exciting if the orchestra could have taken the sound down to true pianissimos – to heighten the contrast with the big fortes. That didn’t seem to matter to the audience, which rewarded the musicians and Villaume with enthusiastic cheers. The orchestra responded with an encore from Smetana’s “Má vlast.”

By the way, in the front of the program, the Prague Philharmonia thanked the City of Prague for donating 11.5 million Czech koruna to the orchestra. That's about $492,000. Not bad! I wish the that City of Portland could do something similar for the Oregon Symphony.

Final bow for Villaume and the Prague Philharmonia at the Rudolfinum