Martinů / Dvořák / Shostakovich
The one-movement symphonic composition Bohuslav Martinů was composed in honour of the victims of the tragedy in Lidice. “It is a very brief composition… in those few minutes I managed to express something that honours those poor martyrs from a small oppressed Czech village.” The Violin Concerto by Antonín Dvořák did not have a bed of roses in the early stages of its existence. The violinist Joseph Joachim, in particular, faulted Dvořák for his specific conception in the treatment of the first and second movements of the work. Nevertheless, he made a name for himself on the world concert stage. The solo part will be performed by the concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic and member of the Lobkowicz Trio, Czech violinist Jan Mráček. According to the composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 is a picture of a man whose morality of a strong personality wins out in spite of hardships, inner crises and adversity. The 1937 symphony is a passionate musical indictment of the Stalinist regime.
