BRNO PHILHARMONIC AT HOME I
FELIX MENDELSSOHN The Hebrides Overture, Op. 26,
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Six Romances on Verses by English Poets for bass and chamber orchestra, Op. 140,
BENJAMIN BRITTEN Courtly Dances from Gloriana, Op. 53,
JOHN TAVENER The Protecting Veil
cello Matthew Barley, bass Jiří Sulženko, Brno Philharmonic, conductor Robert Kružík
• Mendelssohn’s concert overture inspired by the composer’s visit to Fingal’s Cave on the island of Staffa, Scotland
• Shostakovich’s masterful musical setting of English poetry (Raleigh, Burns, Shakespeare) in Russian translation, originally for voice and piano, later orchestrated in the composer’s late style
• Meditative sacred work by Sir John Tavener (1944–2013), an Orthodox Christian star of contemporary classical music
• Work commissioned by the BBC Proms and written in 1989 for the legendary cellist Steven Isserlis, shortlisted three years later for the Mercury Prize (alongside albums by such rock bands as U2, Primal Scream and Simply Red)
• Besední dům as a concert hall (in the first half of the evening) and as an illusion of a sacred space created for the performance of Tavener’s composition
