ConcertPulse
Concert in Prague
Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall (Prague)
With his cycle Má vlast, Bedřich Smetana created a musical declaration of love for his Czech homeland – its landscape, its history, its legends. Kirill Petrenko presents the six symphonic poems of the cycle, each of which takes us into very different Romantic sound worlds – sometimes majestic, sometimes dramatic, sometimes lyrical, but always full of Bohemian musical elan. The best-known work from it is undoubtedly The Moldau, a lively, folkloric tone poem that portrays the river of the same name.
With his cycle Má vlast, Bedřich Smetana created a musical declaration of love for his Czech homeland – its landscape, its history, its legends. Kirill Petrenko presents the six symphonic poems of the cycle, each of which takes us into very different Romantic sound worlds – sometimes majestic, sometimes dramatic, sometimes lyrical, but always full of Bohemian musical elan. The best-known work from it is undoubtedly The Moldau, a lively, folkloric tone poem that portrays the river of the same name.
Night walk with Daniel Harding: in the somber Funeral March, Gustav Mahler’s shadowy, gloomy Seventh Symphony emerges as “the psychogram of a compulsive existence” (Wolfgang Stähr). Nachtmusik I, characterized by a horn duet, casts a wistful glance into bygone times; the Scherzo acquires a restless, spooky character; and Nachtmusik II becomes a nocturnal serenade especially through the presence of a guitar and a mandolin, instruments rarely found in an orchestra. After the eerie nocturnal atmosphere of the previous movements, the work’s gigantic finale transports the listener towards the light – a change of mood that left the audience attending the work’s premiere somewhat perplexed. Today, Mahler’s Seventh is considered a masterpiece of symphonic form, as will be exemplified in Mahler specialist Daniel Harding’s performance.