Day 284
Smetana: Hubička (the Kiss)
Soloists
Chorus and Orchestra of the Janáček opera Brno
František Vajnar
My knowledge of Smetana is fairly limited - I know Vltava and a couple more of pieces from Ma Vlast, and the E minor string quartet and did see the Bartered Bride many years ago. But thats about it.
The Kiss is a later opera (1876), by which time Smetana was completely deaf. But you would never believe it from this music, which is full of life and vigour. As you might expect that spirit of Czech folk music and the dance permeates the entire score and gives it a real sense of energy. But it is not all dance music - there are some very tender passages for the two main characters - they finally kiss at the end of the opera after a series of misadventures.
The mood changes for the second act, which is set in the Forest where some smugglers are hiding. Smetana counjours up a real sense of menace here which took me a bit by surprise. To be honest I thought that the second act flagged a bit after this scene but all does sort itself out by the end, with some strong music to bring the opera to a rousing conclusions. I’d certainly want to explore Smetana’s operatic repertory in more details after this project has finished.
No comments:
Post a Comment