Extensive UK tours by orchestras from the EU are, one suspects, likely to be rarities for some time to come. A combination of the lingering consequences of the pandemic and the extra layers of bureaucracy imposed by Brexit make the organisation of such undertakings much more challenging, so the current six-date tour by the Zagreb Philharmonic – its first visit since 1974 – is rather remarkable.
Jan Latham-Koenig is the conductor for all the concerts, which include music by Croatia’s most familiar composer, Dora Pejačević, alongside repertory works by Sibelius and Mahler. The tour-opener, in the rather bright, sometimes unforgiving acoustic of the Anvil, suggested that the Zagreb orchestra is a feisty, highly accomplished band, which more than compensated for its occasional lack of tonal refinement with an energy and vividness that Latham-Koenig exploited in his performance of Mahler’s First Symphony. It was very much an interpretation presented in bold, primary colours, without a great deal of subtlety but with very loud, almost brash climaxes which allowed the brass much more chance to assert itself than the orchestra’s woodwind.
