An enlivening evening of cello music

The 100th anniversary of the founding of Czech statehood was befittingly celebrated with a cello recital by Czech cellist Frantisek Brikcius at the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) Saturday evening.

Even though the works he performed were by relatively lesser known Czech composers, they were highly enlivening. Brikcius displayed a deft handling of the cello and his renditions were really captivating.

His opening performance was with Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s Suite No.5 in C-minor for solo cello. A piece in six movements, it was characteristic of Bach with the intricate string work and lively tempo. Bach was really so visible in the work and the Baroque style so very prominent. Brikcius’s nimble finger work and his deft handling of the strings really injected so much life into the performance. It was such a precise interpretation of all six movements.

The first movement was a fugue, a fugue being a contraptual composition in which a short melody is introduced by one part and successively taken up by the others. It was a flawless rendition.

The second work was the Suite No.2 in D-minor for solo cello in four movements. However, before commencing his performance, he played the Pakistani and Czech national anthems on his stringed instrument.

Brikcius, a graduate of the Prague Conservatoire and the Janacek Academy of Music, has had a noteworthy career internationally. He studied the cello under the guidance of British cellist, Prof Anna Shuttleworth, who in turn was a pupil of noted cellist Pablo Cassals. This was at the University of Leeds, England.

He is involved in research on works Czech composer Anton, Dvorak, Leos Janeck, and the late British composer, Benjamin Britten, among others. Brikcius’s performance was highly appreciated by the audience who listened with rapt attention. The hall was packed to capacity.