Kahánek plays Strauss
Czech Radio Studio 1, 8 February 2021 at 20:00. Concert took place without an audience.
Carl Maria von Weber: Ouverture Preciosa
Richard Strauss: Burleske in D minor for Piano and Orchestra
Pavel Vranický: Symphony in C Minor, Op. 31, Grand Characteristic Symphony for the Peace with the French Republic
Robert Kružík – conductor
Ivo Kahánek – piano
One of the most sought-after Czech pianists of today, brand new holder of an Anděl Award and BBC Music Magazine Award, Ivo Kahánek, will present Richard Strauss's Burleske with the radio symphony players.
The German composer, mostly known as an author of symphonic poems, operas and songs, wrote it at just twenty-one years of age for the famous conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow, who had named Strauss as his assistant with the Meiningen Court Orchestra. However Strauss's mentor refused to play the virtuosic work strongly influenced by the music of Johannes Brahms. Even so, Burleske later became a standard work in the repertoire of many pianists and a favourite work of audiences due to its playfulness and the effectiveness of the solo part. The concert will take place under the baton of conductor Robert Kružík.
The permanent guest conductor at the Brno Philharmonic, conductor of the National Theatre Brno's Janáček Opera and the opera of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava is returning to PRSO after a successful streamed concert at last year's Prague Spring. The fresh recipient of the prestigious Jiří Bělohlávek Prize will commence the evening with the dramatic overture from the score to the play Preciosa by German writer Pius Alexander Wolff, topping it off with one of the most remarkable symphonies of Czech classical composer Paul Wranitzky. The grand characteristic Symphony in C minor from 1797 is a musical portrait of the French Revolution and the war with Austria, full of imaginative onomatopoeia and novel ideas. It was considered political provocation by the Austrian authorities and its performance was prohibited.
Due to emergency measures, the concert with Benjamin Grosvenor cannot be held on the planned date. Thus we have prepared a no less attractive replacement programme for you, which you can enjoy thanks to a live broadcast on ČRo Vltava starting at 20:00.
