Marko Ivanović and Václav Petr with PRSO

• Czech Radio Studio 1, Monday 3 May 2021 at 8:00 pm. Live broadcast of the concert by ČRo Vltava. Re-runs offered by ČRo D-dur. Watch the video stream on PRSO's Facebook profile. The video is also available for listeners who do not have a FB profile – find the link for watching at socr.rozhlas.cz

Alfred Schnittke's Polyphonic Tango combines a Bachian counterpoint with the rhythms and harmonies of Argentine tango. The Russian composer Schnittke, from a German-Jewish family, is seen as one of the most outstanding and poignant "voices of their time", and is thus also considered a direct successor to Dmitri Shostakovich.

Dirigent Marko Ivanović|foto:Marek Olbrzymek (NdB)

From Shostakovich's legacy we will hear the Cello Concert No. 2 from 1966, dedicated – just like the author's first – to Mstislav Rostropovich. A highlight of the PRSO evening in this work will no doubt be cellist Václav Petr, who has been turning heads with his success in competitions from an early age and has been performing as a soloist since he was twelve. He is currently a concertmaster in the Czech Philharmonic, one of the youngest in the ensemble's history.

To close out the programme, we will move from the Russian cultural environs of the 20th century to Germany in the mid-19th century. From the works of Robert Schumann we have selected for you the Symphony No. 2 in C major, which this key figure of German Romanticism composed in a state of poor health. We can thus view this work, with its difficulties being completed, as a symbol of victory of the human spirit over mercilessly dramatic conditions.

PROGRAMME:

Alfred Schnittke: Polyphonic Tango
Dmitri Shostakovich: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 2, Op. 126
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61

Marko Ivanović – conductor
Václav Petr – cello