New Year’s concert
VIKTOR ULLMANN
Slavonic Rhapsody, Op. 23
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
Kateřina Kněžíková soprano
Jana Hrochová alto
Richard Samek tenor
Roman Janál bass
Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno
choir director Petr Fiala
Brno Philharmonic
conductor Dennis Russell Davies
- The Brno Philharmonic’s traditional New Year’s concert comes back to the Janáček Theatre after two years away, a symbolic start for what could be called Beethoven Year, the 250th anniversary of Ludwig’s birth ● Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony has become a universal message of peace and understanding among nations ● Here, it is presented in an eloquent combination with the music of Czech-Austrian composer Viktor Ullmann, a victim of the Nazi regime ● Ullmann’s Slavonic Rhapsody for orchestra and saxophone obbligato was written in 1940. It’s a work strongly influenced by Moravian and Slovak folk music and was premiered as late as 14 June 1991 in Bonn by the Beethoven-Halle Orchestra and saxophonist John Edward Kelly, under the baton of Dennis Russell Davies
