Do Taras Bulba and Sir Edward Elgar Have Anything in Common?

Taras Bulba is a Russian Cossack who, with his two sons, fought against Poland, and he’s the protagonist in a novella of that name by Nikolai Gogol.

College of Music.  Mahidol Salaya.  Nakhonpathom, Thailand.  May 5, 2012.  One hallmark of a Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra concert, is a varied program.  Although the programmers give each concert pair a name, this one being called “Taras Bulba,” a unified theme is often lacking, or the connection between the works being performed is tenuous at best.  This is all to the good because it guarantees that the orchestra does not have to make selections based upon some contrived plan (can you imagine what an all-Taras Bulba concert would sound like).  What we had, instead, were two major works:  Elgar’s cello concerto beautifully performed by Czech cellist Tomas Strasil, and Leos Janacek’s three movement tone poem (yes) Taras Bulba.  This exciting orchestral work, a first hearing for me, was conducted by Gudni Emilsson, the TPO’s chief conductor, who can be credited with creating Thailand’s finest orchestra, which never sounded better than it did during Janacek’s challenging score.  Also on the program was a new work by American composer-in-residence at Mahidol Salaya, James J. Ogburn, the most interesting aspect of which was the fact that his nine-month pregnant wife was sitting in the orchestra playing the bassoon.