Kabeláč versus Russian Classics
On 20 February the PRSO will welcome a genuinely special guest. The 32-year-old Hungarian cellist István Várdai is the only musician to have won both the most prestigious international cello competitions, Geneva and Munich.
The instrument he plays, a legendary Du Pré-Harrell Stradivarius cello from 1673, is also unique. His rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, a piece filled with invention, contrasts and variations on an attractive theme, is guaranteed to be exquisite.
The evening at the Rudolfinum is entitled Kabeláč versus Russian Classical. One of most important Czech composers of the second half of the 20th century, Miloslav Kabeláč fully deserves such an exalted billing. He succeeded in working with the minimum of elements, creating from them enormous canvases.
The inspiration of non-European cultures is clearly audible in his work. However, despite all the impulses and influences that he absorbed he remained thoroughly himself. The PRSO has recently devoted special attention to him, doing studio recordings of his complete symphonies.
This time the orchestra will present the audience at the Rudolfinum with Kabeláč’s Overture, which the composer wrote in 1947 for the then symphony orchestra at Czechoslovak Radio. Even in this relatively small format we can appreciate, 70 years later, the distinctiveness and quality of Kabeláč’s music.
Russian classical music is represented in our programme by a selection of suites from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet. Despite the usage of relatively comprehensible musical language, the composer “got into hot water” with this opus in the then Soviet Union and the premiere took place in Brno in 1938.
This was brought about by Ivo Váňa Psota, the enlightened chief of the city’s ballet company, who also created the choreography and played Romeo. Music that is moving, colourful, forceful and enchanting, and which corresponds exquisitely to the Shakespeare original, will doubtlessly delight the audience at the venue and listeners of a live broadcast on the Vltava station.
The concert will be helmed by principal conductor Ondrej Lenárd and we will start at the traditional time of 19:30.
