Hummel / Rachmaninoff

Johann Nepomuk Hummel, one of the most famous pianists of Europe, pupil of Mozart, Albrechtsberger and Salieri, born in Bratislava. In his sonatas and concertos one can feel the development and transition from the classical style towards late romanticism. The Bassoon Concerto is a typical work of the big-city virtuoso style, and has dominated the stages of many a metropolis (Paris, London, Vienna). In the spirit of the custom of the time, the highest technical demands were placed on the performer. The demanding virtuoso part will be played by the first bassoonist of the Vienna Philharmonic Sophie Dervaux. The stress of the failure of the First Symphony discouraged Sergei Rachmaninoff from a second attempt; he had lost confidence in himself as a symphonist. He was buoyed by a three-year stay in Dresden, where they took refuge together before the revolutionary disturbances of 1905. Contacts with German culture led to a recuperation of his symphonic “ego”, and the first sketches of the Second Symphony were made there. The latter impresses with the typical breadth of the Russian epic as well as the virtuosic dynamism of the scherzo and the healthy pathos of the finale.

The conductor of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, the young Czech Jiří Habart, will be in charge of the orchestration of the works.