Thu, 23. 2. 2023, 7.00 p.m.

A5 WORLD PREMIERE

Venue: Zlín Congress Centre  |  Organizer: Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů, o.p.s.  | 

Once again this year, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra's new concert season presents a world premiere by a contemporary Czech composer in the form of a dramatic composition by the Prague composer, musician and director Ondřej Brousek. The piece, which has been kept under wraps, is dedicated to the Zlín philharmonic, and receives its world premiere at the start of this concert.

The next piece this evening, which he called Scherzo, was written by Richard Strauss when he was only 21. The work for piano and orchestra was dedicated in 1886 to Hans von Bülow, the eminent pianist and conductor, who had appointed Strauss as his assistant at the Meiningen Court Orchestra. But von Bülow was not impressed with the work, rejecting it as too complicated and calling the solo piano part almost unplayable. When Strauss became acquainted a few years later with Eugen d'Albert, another outstanding pianist, he showed him the Scherzo. D'Albert liked the work, but suggested changes to the piano part to make it playable. Strauss revised the Scherzo, renamed it Burleske and rededicated it to d'Albert who premiered it in June 1890 at a festival in Eisenach with Richard Strauss conducting the orchestra.

Bohuslav Martinů began work on his sixth symphony, the "Fantaisies symphoniques", in early 1951 at the behest of the Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Charles Munch, who also asked 15 more composers to write a symphonic work to celebrate the Orchestra's 75th anniversary. Martinů worked on the symphony for over two years, completing it at the end of April 1953. The work is emotive, dramatic and full of the passion in the composer's own soul, inspired by his personal experiences in the years that preceded it, including a serious injury from which Martinů made a difficult recovery. In a letter, the composer said the symphony has "a very private content and it is only known to me, and all other conjectures are merely a screen."