Tchaikovsky / Bruch / Szeghy / Martinček / Bloch
The Meditation is the first and longest movement of the three-part cycle Souvenir d'un lieu cher (Memories of a Beloved Place), which Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky originally composed for violin and piano. The composition Kol Nidrei, which draws on motifs from a traditional Jewish religious ceremony, dates from 1880 and is the best-known work by the German composer Max Bruch. The five-part suite Hommage à Mednyánszky by this year's honoree Iris Szeghy is a profound musical reflection on the paintings of artist Ladislav Mednyánszky. Passacaglia for string orchestra dates from the early creative period of the Slovak composer Dušan Martinček. He wrote it in 1965 after completing his studies in composition with Ján Cikker. Composer Ernest Bloch came from an Orthodox Jewish family living in Geneva, Switzerland. He sought inspiration for his work in the idioms of Jewish music, which became the fundamental programmatic and aesthetic orientation of his works. The four-movement Concerto grosso No. 2 dates from 1952 and belongs to the composer's neoclassical period. Unlike Concerto grosso No. 1, it is closer to Baroque musical models, yet it also retains elements of a modern harmonic language.
