Koberle’s Vivaldi and Pokorný’s Piazzolla

Vlastimil Kobrle, concertmaster of the Orchestra, will perform a solo in the popular cycle by Antonio Vivaldi, while David Pokorný, leader of the second violin section, will take us to Buenos Aires through the music of Ástor Piazzolla. The attractive programme will be broadcast live on Monday 6 June by the ČRo Vltava station.

Vivaldi dedicated the four violin concertos known as the Four Seasons to his important patron Count Wenzel Morzin. The composer drew inspiration from a set of sonnets, written into the score and used as a template for the soundscape characterisation, such as birdsong, a summer storm, a frosty day or a fire crackling in the hearth.

Vlastimil Kobrle a David Pokorný|foto:Tomáš Vodňanský, Český rozhlas

Vlastimil Kobrle is an ideal person to perform this composition – in fact, before his engagement at the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, he worked for five years as concertmaster in the Suk Chamber Orchestra, where he also distinguished himself as a soloist and closely collaborated with Josef Suk. For Vlastimil Kobrle, chamber music is still an integral part of his artistic life.

The Four Seasons in Buenos Aires is a series of tangos capturing the atmosphere of the South American metropolis at different times of the year. Ástor Piazzolla, an Argentinean with Italian roots, was a composer, arranger and virtuoso bandoneon player who has brought modern Western jazz and avant-garde classical influences into the traditional genre with an unmistakable rhythm and mood. The arrangement for violin and string orchestra, which mirrors Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons in its scoring, is the work of the Russian Leonid Desjatnikov, who has also composed numerous film scores.

We could not have chosen a better performer for this music either. David Pokorný’s talent has been evident since his early childhood and today, his well-honed musicianship and stirring enthusiasm can be heard both at the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he is the leader of the second violin section, and in concerts and recordings of the supra-genre ensemble Epoque Quartet, which David Pokorný has led since 2008.