Thu, 19. 3. 2015, 7:00 p.m.
A5 - BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ - 125 YEARS ON
Venue: Zlín Congress Centre | Organizer: Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů, o.p.s. | Price: 250,- 210,- 180,-
B. SMETANA: Vltava, symphonic poem from the cycle Má Vlast
B. MARTINŮ: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, no. 3
B. MARTINŮ: 'Fantaisies Symphoniques' (Symphony no. 6)
Soloist: CHARLENE FARRUGIA, piano
Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: ZVONIMIR HAČKO
This concert marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of our great fellow-countryman Bohuslav Martinů, who hails from Polička.
He was for many years a friend of the Czech pianist Rudolf Firkušný, at whose request Martinů set about writing his third piano concerto in 1947. This was a composition he came to later than he originally intended owing to troublesome injuries which made it difficult for him to work, and the concerto can be said to be permeated with a sense of his sadness and angst. It is performed tonight by the young pianist Charlene Faruggia, who made her debut with the National Orchestra in her native Malta when she was just 13. She continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and despite her young age has already made two successful concert tours in the US.
The 'Fantaisies Symphoniques' has been described by New York critics as the best symphonic work of 1955. Bohuslav Martinů wrote it for his friend, the conductor Charles Munch, to mark the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 75th anniversary. The dominant features of this unusual work are its freedom of form interwoven with its constantly changing themes.
The concert begins with Vltava, the second piece in Bedřich Smetana's symphonic poem cycle Má Vlast.
Wielding the baton tonight is the Croatian conductor Zvonimir Hačko, who works mainly in America, but is currently chief conductor of the Österreichische Symphoniker.
Our orchestra will be reprising tonight's concert in Austria at the Bohuslav Martinů Festival in Linz.