Mischa Maisky must have played Dvorak's Cello Concerto so often it haunts him in his sleep. It may be the greatest concerto for cello and orchestra there is, but there are few challengers. While pianists and violinists have a huge range to choose from, players of instruments like the oboe or cello have to be grateful for what little they've got.
The work is magnificent, endlessly melodic, and plumbing the depths of sadness as well as scaling the heights of exuberance. Dvorak was adored worldwide in his day because his music was simultaneously serious and accessible. People loved his folksy Czech lyricism and his ruminating introspection equally. He made them feel they appreciated "serious music" while at the same time giving genuine pleasure. If your wife had left you or your infant child died, Dvorak was the man to turn to for comfort and a consoling wider view of things.
As a Russian, Maisky must feel drawn to the work in other ways, too. Russians used to be thought of as having great depths of soul, and the music shares with them a sometimes melancholy, never-depressed soulfulness. But in Dvorak's time they also were powerfully influenced by a Pan-Slav movement, making them feel strongly about their affinities with Czechs, Macedonians and Croats. When its audiences first heard Dvorak's great concerto, they would have immediately thought about the Slavic peoples, their heritage in legend and their struggles to found their own homelands.
Tonight's concert will also be an occasion to welcome again Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬) back to Taiwan as he presides over his old orchestra, this time as their principal guest conductor. He's much missed, and it's significant to note that his concert last Sunday afternoon featuring Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony was 92 percent full.
Maisky might also have in mind his former teacher, the late Mstislav Rostropovich who played Dvorak's Cello Concerto in the same Taipei hall on the building's 15th anniversary. Now it's the 20th, and so tonight's concert has been billed Maisky's Nostalgia.
Mischa Maisky performs with the National Symphony Orchestra under Chien at Taipei's National Concert Hall tonight, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are from NT$500 to NT$2,500. For more details call (02) 3393-9888.
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