Monday, May 15, 2017

Czechy music

One of the pieces played was Smetana's gloriously lovely Vltava (Moldau) from Ma Vlast. The Vltava is a river, and it flows through the capital city Praha (Prague). The Charles Bridge crosses the Vltava. The curtain that covers the stage is that city, river and bridge. Could kismet or serendipity find a better place in Cleveland to perform Vltava? It is that rare piece which has a triangle featured, one of the few times it is a principal, and adds so much to that enchanting melody. On the way to the car, i turned around and saw that musician, he may have thought i was kidding him, but the performance was very satisfying.

This was on Sunday afternoon, i finally made it to Bohemian Hall on Broadway. And the second time i heard the Heights Chamber Orchestra. I have missed going again and again. The Czechs have kept up the hall to look like the turn of last century, with Sokol posters of the interwar period. It was an elderly audience. We got to hear a mostly Czechy programme. A Dvorak Slavonic Dance, which was repeated as an encore; the aforesaid Moldau; Mozart's Prague Symphony; and my first hearing of Massenet's orchestral suite, Scenes Pittoresques, which i really enjoyed, and wonder why it is not better known.
 Concertmaster/first violinist Emily Cornelius
 bass Rand Forbes
The only distraction was the yellow light the bulbs gave off. If it was any stronger, only black and white fotos could be viewed without being disappointed. The big fiddle has had some mileage, not as bd as Willie's guitar, but still.

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