Wed, 16. 11. 2022, 7.00 p.m.

B2 BRAUNER / THE PLANETS

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

Roman Patočka, Tomáš Brauner and the Cantica Laetitia choir are the artists featuring in our second Subscription Series B concert which starts and ends with two works by Gustav Holst taking us on a journey first to the Far East and then, at the end, as far as the planets.

The English late-Romantic composer Gustav Holst often looked to musical cultures beyond Europe for inspiration with, for example, ancient holy Sanskrit texts and songs heard in the streets of Algeria finding their way into his work. It was to the music of the Land of the Rising Sun that Holst turned his attention in 1915, and this was at the request of the Japanese dancer Michio Ita who was working in London at the time. The result is his Japanese Suite in six movements comprising a prelude, an interlude and four dances. Holst was not well-versed in Japanese music and most of the themes in the suite derive from traditional Japanese melodies whistled to him by Ito.

Another composer with a keen interest in exotic motifs was Camille Saint-Saëns, who used them in much of his work. He wrote three violin concertos, the last of which we hear tonight and which many consider his finest. Written in March 1880, it was dedicated to the Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate, one of the greatest virtuosi of his time. This technically demanding piece is rich in melodic invention and impressionist subtlety with noticeable Spanish touches.

The final piece brings us back to Gustav Holst who worked on his Japanese Suite at the same time as his probably best-known Planets suite, which has seven movements (since Holst purposely omitted the Earth) representing each of the planets and expressing in music their different effects on the human psyche. The work, which runs to about 50 minutes, was first performed in 1920 in London and soon became very popular.