Events

JAKUB HRŮŠA, Conductor

DANIIL TRIFONOV, Piano

Blagoje Bersa: Idyll for Orchestra, Op. 25b

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B‑flat major, Op. 60

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43

Leoš Janáček: Taras Bulba, Rhapsody for Orchestra, JW VI/15

Pianist Daniil Trifonov, "without question the most astounding pianist of our age", according to the British newspaper The Times, and winner of the Artist of the Year awards from the prestigious magazines Gramophone (in 2016) and Musical America (in 2019), returns to Zagreb. He will perform with the Bamberg Symphony, an orchestra that "boasts being the only orchestra of world renown that is not based in a vibrant metropolis", as well as having almost 10% of the population in their area subscribed to one of their five concert series. The concert will be conducted by the Bamberg Symphony's Chief Conductor Jakob Hrůša.

 

Trifonov will be the soloist in the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff, that is, in 24 virtuosic variations on Paganini's final Caprice No. 24, which was an inspiration to many other composers, as well.  In it, Rachmaninoff combines the 'devilish' aspect of the underlying piece with echoes of the Dies irae theme and some bows to the Russian musical tradition.

The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra will open the concert with the piece Idyll by the Croatian modernist Blagoje Bersa, which is sometimes interpreted as a movement of his 'tragic' symphony, with the subtitle Il giorno delle mie nozze – My Wedding Day. It will also perform Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, the innovativeness of which is sometimes overshadowed by the composer's more "dramatic" neighbouring symphonies, the Third and Fifth, and Janáček’s Taras Bulba rhapsody for orchestra. Czech composer Leoš Janáček, who was inspired for it by Gogol's novella about the conflict between the Cossacks and the Poles, wrote it during the First World War and dedicated it to "our army... the protectors of our nation".