Mahan Esfahani plays Poulenc
Rudolfinum, 18 Januaury 2021 at 7:30 p.m. This concert took place without the presence of the audience. Live broadcasted by ČRo Vltava.
Carl Maria von Weber: „Der Freischütz“ Overture
Francis Poulenc: Concert champêtre for harpsichord and orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B Flat Major, Op. 60
Alexander Liebreich – conductor
Mahan Esfahani – harpsichord
Chief Conductor Alexander Liebreich combines the music of the first half of the 19th and 20th centuries in the first subscriber concert of the New Year. It kicks off with the overture to the romantic opera Der Freischütz, which tells the story of a young hunter who joins forces with the devil to obtain the hand of his beloved. Soon after its premiere in Berlin, the opera became the most successful stage work by Carl Maria von Weber and quickly saw further performances in Vienna, Leipzig, Karlsruhe and Prague. In the evening's second composition, one of the best harpsichordists of the present day, the Iranian-American pupil of Zuzana Růžičková Mahan Esfahani, rejoins the radio symphony players in order to perform Concert champêtre, the playful pastoral concert by French neoclassical composer Francis Poulenc. The evening closes with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 4, which the composer wrote in 1806 in Hradec nad Moravicí, where he was staying at the invitation of Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky.
The originally planned Czech premiere of Miroslav Srnka's composition for harpsichord and orchestra commissioned together by PRSO and the Gürzenich-Orchester in Köln will not take place until after the world premiere in Germany, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you for your understanding.
