MUSIC REVIEW : SYMPHONY’S CZECH NIGHT HAS VITALITY

To begin its “Meet the Composer” series, the Pacific Symphony was fortunate to have Karel Husa on hand to conduct his “Music for Prague 1968” Saturday night at Santa Ana High School.

Inspired by the tragedy of the Russian invasion of the composer’s homeland, the work movingly conveys the feelings of hope, fear and sadness that the Czech people must have felt at the time.

Though many of this century’s composers have attempted to portray the sorrow and terror, few have done it as effectively as Husa did in “Music for Prague.” The lachrymose cello lines, menacing trumpet calls, terrifying crescendos and ominous bell tolls are skillfully woven into this extremely well-constructed, brilliantly orchestrated work.

The composer presided over an exciting and remarkably accurate performance. He kept the dramatic elements under control, and the effect of the final unison statement of the 15th-Century Hussite song, fragmented by the persistent snare drum cadences and tintinnabulations, proved downright thrilling.

Not surprising, both audience and orchestra responded with unusual enthusiasm.

Music director Keith Clark led the orchestra in music by an earlier Czech, Antonin Dvorak. Clark shaped a reading of the “New World” Symphony rich in contrast and clear in vision.

Transparency and lyrical expressivity characterized the slow movement; a sense of heroic vitality pervaded the outer ones. The conductor attended to every detail, and his phrasing proved impeccable, but he never lost the overall picture.

The concert began with another “Prague” work--this one written some 180 years before Husa’s and of an entirely different emotional vein.