Bachtrack.com: At Dvořák’s Prague, unexpected pleasures from the Tonhalle Zürich

The program for Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s appearance at the Dvořák’s Prague festival promised a night of tortured artists: Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto no. 1, hidden away for years under Soviet oppression, and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, written when the composer was seriously ill and dealing with encroaching deafness. Instead, conductor Paavo Järvi served up a convincingly understated version of the concerto, letting soloist Josef Špaček carry the emotional weight, and a boisterous reading of the symphony that verged on explosive at times. Fresh and unexpected, it made for an exhilarating evening.

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