Spolek přátel hudby při Filharmonii Brno (Friends of Music at the Brno Philharmonic) opened the season 2021/2022 with a cello recital concert. The first subscription evening in the venue of Besední dům presented Ballad in D minor Op. 3 No. 1 and Serenade in A major Op. 3 No. 2 by Josef Suk, Fairy Tale by Leoš Janáček, Silent Woods Op. 68 No. 5 and Rondo Op. 94 by Antonín Dvořák and Sonata in A major by César Franck. Compositions were performed by cellist Michaela Fukačová and pianist David Mareček. The concert was part of a joint tour of both artists called Můj hudební domov (My Musical Home). Organised by the C.E.M.A. music agency, the programme will also travel to Hradec Králové, Prague and Karlovy Vary in addition to its staging in Brno. Before the musicians took the stage, the audience was welcomed by the chairwoman of the Friends of Music Society and a personality of Brno’s musical life Alena Veselá accompanied by the clarinet player of the Brno Philharmonic Emil Drápela. Together they ceremonially launched Drápela’s new publication Jak se žije v orchestru (How to Live in an Orchestra subtitled Nevážené fejetony o vážné hudbě (Unweighted Feuilletons on Classical Music).
Although the selection of musical works belongs to more moderate dramaturgical events and some of the pieces regularly appear in cello recitals, in terms of overall layout and context it was a well-constructed and coherent programme. After all, it was the compositions of Antonín Dvořák, Josef Suk and Leoš Janáček that shaped Michaela Fukačová’s musical career and interpretive language, her musical home.
The first half of the evening opened with Suk’s Ballad in D minorfollowed by his Serenade in A major. Although they were originally two independent works – the first is from 1890 and the second from 1896 – since their joint publication in 1900 by Fritz Simrock, the two works have formed a stable pair. From the opening few bars, it was already clear that pianist David Mareček prefers a rather sober and artificially elegant expression, which, however, shifts to a much more emotional interpretation in the more tense moments. It was the aforementioned contrast, supported by purposeful dynamics, that gave Mareček’s interpretation a real touch of truth in the exacerbated or, on the contrary, tender parts of this composition. Michaela Fukačová’s interpretation seemed more emotional and perhaps even in a way “warmer”, but it was an ideal combination. If the two musicians were unrestrained in their emotion, the result would lack coherence and elegance, but if the performers remained rather restrained, the music would lack passion, tenderness and drama. From my point of view, the strongest aspect of Michaela Fukačová’s playing was undoubtedly her work with tone – from vigorous, harsh and unkempt to sighing and whispering, all with precise dynamic gradations and lively and imaginative phrasing. But what took the musical staging an order of magnitude higher was the work with tempo. Each tense note hanging urgently in the air, waiting to be unleashed, demonstrated breath-taking rhythmic interplay. Particularly impressive, for example, was the musical dialogue with a distinctive rubato in Janáček’s Fairy Tale. It was this piece that most tested the performers’ ability to convey the dramatic changes of mood in the music. The final pair of songs of the first half - Silent Woods Rondo by Antonín Dvořák – then functioned as a dramaturgical calm and a return to a more traditional musical language. In terms of performance, however, both Michaela Fukačová and David Mareček retained the sparkling deftness of Janáček’s previous work.
Franck’s Sonata in A major, rightly one of the composer’s best and best-known works, is one of the stalwarts of violin and cello literature. Franck’s sophisticated work with musical motifs, which intertwine through the piece and take on new and new meanings, places considerable demands not only on the musical imagination of the performers, but above all on their ability to capture and convey these subtle nuances to the audience. Fukačová and Mareček managed this task flawlessly and convincingly. Whether it was the sweetly tender introduction of the main theme in the first movement or its triumphant climax in the imitative dialogue of the final movement, the cellist and pianist were united in expression and dynamics. It was not only a convincing ending of the song, but also of the whole evening.
The Friends of Music Society’s subscription concert brought a virtually flawless overview of major works for cello and piano, mostly by Czech composers. In addition, it launched the 2021/2022 concert season, which promises many more dramaturgical and hopefully similarly interpretively polished concerts led by Rejcha, Novák and Beethoven. Well, all we have to do is look forward to it!
Antonín Dvořák: Klid (Silent Woods) Op. 68/5, Rondo g moll op. 94
Josef Suk: Ballad and Serenade, Op. 3
Leoš Janáček: Fairy Tale
César Franck: Sonata in A major
Michaela Fukačová, cello
David Mareček, piano
September 2021, Besední dům
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