He was born in 1781 in Krásné Buk, but spent most of his life across the ocean, where he stood at the beginnings of American classical music. He became the first professional composer in America to make a living entirely from music. At the same time, he started composing without any composition training. This happened during the year when he lived alone in a cabin after a serious illness. He gained popularity and respect among his colleagues, they began to call him the American Beethoven. Incidentally, he was the first to conduct Beethoven in America, specifically his Symphony No. 1 in C major. He was also the first to use Native American musical motifs in his compositions. This is only part of the incredible life story of Anthony Philip Heinrich, a native of Krásná Lípa. The festival will open with his pathetically tuned work The Song of the Spirit of the Wild Forest or Glimpses of Yankee Doodle. The symphony with a large cast and unusual musical instruments will be heard in the Czech premiere. "American Beethoven" is followed by the real Beethoven, specifically his rarely performed Fantasia in C minor.
Another Czech premiere will open the second half of the evening: Credo by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, one of the most famous contemporary authors. The conflict between creed and retribution is reflected in the polystyle cantata (the liturgical verse Credo in Jesum Christum versus the 38th and 39th verses from the 5th chapter of Matthew's Gospel). Musically, it is expressed by the sheer beauty of fragments of Bach's Prelude in C major from the Well-tempered piano, which is confronted with dodecaphonic passages and strictly structured aggressive clusters, so that the entire cantata ends with a conciliatory credo, again in the Bachian spirit.
The opening concert will conclude with Alexander Scriabin's Prometheus (Symphony No. 5 "Poem of Fire"). It is his most harmonically powerful orchestral work, based on the six-tone series. The solo piano is used as a harmonic percussion instrument, in the final gradation a chorus without text joins. Scriabin's synesthetic perception of music was reflected in the use of the so-called light piano controlled by a scheme in which the author assigned individual colors to specific tones. Cori O'Lan, director of the renowned Austrian festival Ars Electronica, will take care of the lighting design. According to Scriabin's scheme, individual notes acquire their color and their intensity reacts in real time to the volume of the orchestra.
CONCERT PROGRAM
ANTHONY PHILIP HEINRICH: The Wildwood Spiritʼs Chant or, Scintillations of Yankeedoodle, great national heroic fantasy for large orchestra in 44 parts, Czech premiere
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN: Fantasy in C minor for piano, choir and orchestra op. 80
ARVO PÄRT: Credo for choir and orchestra, Czech premiere
ALEXANDER SCRJABIN: Prometheus (Symphony No. 5 "Poem of Fire") for piano, choir and orchestra op. 60
Polina Osetinskaya piano
Slovak Philharmonic Choir
choirmaster Jan Rozehnal
Zuzana Weiserová soprano
Katarína Ďurdinová soprano
Dominika Krčištová alto
Pavol Oravec tenor
Mykola Erdyk tenor
Eugen Gaál bass
Brno Philharmonic
conductor Dennis Russell Davies
Cori O'Lan lighting design (Skrjabin)
