ALFRED SCHNITTKE
Cello Concerto No. 1
JEAN SIBELIUS
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43
Matt Haimovitz cello
Brno Philharmonic
conductor Michael Schønwandt
- Alfred Schnittke’s First Cello Concerto of 1986, dedicated to Natalia Gutman, originally conceived as a work in three movements and completed only after a major trauma in his life – a stroke – with a slow fourth movement, whose emotion corresponds to the finale of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony ● The best known of the seven symphonies by Jean Sibelius, the leading Finnish composer, infused with Nordic colour ● Matt Haimovitz, once a wunderkind who debuted in 1984 aged 13 with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta and today is described as a “ferociously talented cellist who brings his megawatt sound and uncommon expressive gifts to a vast variety of styles” (The New York Times) ● World-famous Danish conductor Michael Schønwandt, former chief conductor of the Royal Opera in Copenhagen and the Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin
