Rudolfinum
June
8
 |
| Smiles all around after an unforgettable Kaddish. |
Eliahu
Inbal finished his tenure with the Czech Philharmonic in dramatic
fashion on Friday night, conducting a thundering performance of
Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish symphony.
With a large orchestra, two choirs and a soprano soloist providing
explosive accompaniment for a riveting narrative by Holocaust
survivor Samuel Pisar, it was a night for the ages.
The
evening started on a calmer note with a deft rendering of Ravel’s
Scheherazade song
cycle. Full-bodied yet beautifully transparent, the piece was an
engaging showcase for singer Pavla Vykopalová,
with
Inbal layering subtle
shadings and warm tones to complement her dusky soprano. A regular on
the National Theater and State opera stages, Vykopalová
has a rich, round
voice with no sharp edges, even in the upper registers, that drew
generous applause from the musicians as well.
Vykopalová
was also the beneficiary of a perfect balance that Inbal
struck between the singer and the orchestra; not once was her voice
overwhelmed by the music. That’s difficult to achieve, and a
reminder of Inbal’s high professional standards and skills.
Watching him some nights over the past few years has been like
attending a clinic in how to conduct a symphony orchestra.
Bernstein’s
Kaddish is an
overwhelming piece on every level, and deliberately so. Conceived as
a traditional Jewish prayer set to “expressionistic and
Schoenbergian” music, as Bernstein described it, the work
immediately took on profound overtones when it was finished in 1963,
in the wake of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The narrator not
only prays and mourns but inveighs against God, demanding to know how
He can allow suffering and persecution in the world. Pisar came to
the piece after Bernstein’s death – though with the composer’s
encouragement – writing a new, updated “Dialogue with God” that
recounts his experiences in Auschwitz in horrifying detail.
The
symphony opens with minimalist background music for the narrator, but
quickly roars into a full maelstrom during the narrative breaks, with
atonal horns and swooning strings underpinned by as many as eight
percussionists at a time. A full mixed choir adds searing,
apocalyptic vocals that washed down from the empora like acid rain.
In the later passages, as the rage and terror die down, a solo
soprano and children’s choir provide moments of solace. But the
overall effect of the piece is like being slammed by a tidal wave,
with the orchestra seemingly on the verge of tearing itself apart at
times.
Inbal
knit all this together with superb control, punctuating lines like
“Never again!” with outbursts of volcanic intensity, then taking
the sound down to fine gradations – murmurs from the choir,
metronomic tapping from a single percussion instrument. The fireworks
were spectacular, the quiet moments somber and contemplative, and the
interplay between the narrator and the music finely honed. Inbal
never serves up anything less than a sharp performance, but to
achieve that with literally hundreds of performers on and offstage
(the Kühn
Children’s Choir had to sing from a balcony in the audience) was a
particularly impressive feat.
One
could argue that the Kaddish
is not a symphony at all, but a series of sound effects that
underscore and amplify a sustained lament, with comparatively little
music at the core. And Pisar’s contemporary references to Iran and
Islamic jihad were a bit confusing in a 50-year old piece. But there
was no denying the power of the work in Inbal’s hands. And the
Czech Philharmonic provided him with A-list support in Vykopalová,
the Kühn
Children’s Choir and the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno.
Like
so many concerts in Prague, this one ended with a standing ovation.
That particular response has never made sense to this critic – if
every concert is superlative, then none is superlative. But in this
case, it was well-deserved, not just for Friday’s concert, but
for the fine job that Inbal did under often difficult circumstances
the past three years. As a satisfying finish to a turbulent time, it
was a note-perfect performance.
For
more on Eliahu Inbal:
http://www.karstenwitt.com/en/artist/eliahu_inbal/biography/
Photo courtesy of the Czech Philharmonic
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