Review: Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine

Beautiful, medieval Lviv has a population of over 700,000, making this the largest city in Western Ukraine. The city’s historic core is a Unesco World Heritage site. It is now listed at risk due to significant damage from Russian shelling, drone and missile attacks.

Lviv has the National Academic Opera & Ballet Theatre and the Philharmonic Concert Hall which is home to the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine. All of these companies continue to give morale boosting performances under dangerous wartime conditions in their home city.

Bradford’s stopover on the orchestra’s UK tour opened with a thrilling curtain raiser: the Overture to Rossini’s opera La Gazza Ladra - The Thieving Magpie. Principal conductor Theodore Kuchar made the most of the Overture’s famous snare drum rolls. An additional snare drum was played from the back row of the balcony, producing a novel echo effect - to the amusement of an enthusiastic audience.

High jinks out of the way, Kuchar turned to the introspective Symphony No 4 in A minor of Jean Sibelius. The gloom laden opening bars were projected here with brooding intensity by the lower strings. Dark, mysterious brass fanfares and austere woodwind underscored some of the great Finnish composer’s most unsettling music. As an elegy to the victims of war, Kuchar’s powerfully driven performance of the Sibelius 4th at the helm of his fine orchestra undoubtedly hit the spot.

Renowned artists Oksana Hretchyn (violin) and Jìrí Barta (cello) then joined the orchestra for the Brahms Double Concerto in A minor. Both soloists make an equal contribution to this all too rarely performed concerto. The violin’s sweetness and the meloncholy sonorities of the cello were a delight. Kuchar and the Lviv Philharmonic were perfectly balanced partners, never overwhelming the solo textures.

A generous programme ended in boisterous spirits with five of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances: No 1 in C and No 8 in G minor from Opus 46; No 2 (10) in E minor, No 4 (12) in D flat major and No 7(15) in C major from Opus 72. Conductor and orchestra almost danced their way through these lollipops.