Thu, 6. 2. 2025, 19.00 hrs

A4 TONES OF THE HARP

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

One of the most highly-acclaimed Czech harpists, Kateřina Englichová, is a key figure in tonight’s concert presenting French and Russian music, when Leoš Svárovský, principal guest conductor of the Zlín Philharmonic Orchestra, will be on the rostrum to conduct works by Pierre Wissmer, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s final symphony making up the second half of the evening.

Wissmer's Divertissement sur un Chorale, a work for chamber orchestra composed in early 1938, is a neoclassical piece based on an old Genevan chorale, around which Wissmer creates various variations and modifications. The work stands out for its harmonic richness, refined orchestral colours and sophisticated form, demonstrating the composer's ability to combine traditional musical elements with modern compositional techniques.

French neoclassicism is then followed by French impressionism in two works for solo harp with accompaniment, namely Debussy's Dances for harp and string orchestra - the spiritual Sacred Dance and the more playful Secular Dance. Then we hear Ravel's Introduction and Allegro, a virtuosic piece full of rich sound and colourful effects, originally commissioned by the Érard company to promote new harp models.

Tchaikovsky considered his Symphony No.6, later nicknamed "Pathétique", to be "the best, but above all the most sincere of all my works". He conducted its premiere himself in October 1893, just nine days before he died. Almost immediately, the Pathétique became one of the most popular and most frequently performed symphonies in the world orchestral repertoire.