Interview
Sol Gabetta in conversation with Stephan Koncz Krzysztof Urbański and Sol Gabetta
The cellist Sol Gabetta is one of the young global stars of the classical music scene. In this concert from May 2014, she plays Bohuslav Martinů’s colourful and soulful Cello Concerto No. 1 – which the press described as “a performance to fall in love with”. This all-Czech programme also includes works by Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony. The concert also sees the debut of conductor Krzysztof Urbański with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Born in 1824, Bedřich Smetana is considered the founder of the Czech national style, who succeeded in achieving a unique synthesis between art music and folk elements. In his beloved orchestral cycle Má vlast (My Homeland), he created stirring musical portraits of his country’s natural beauty (The Moldau) and its legends (Šárka).
Antonín Dvořák, 17 years his junior, continued along Smetana’s musical path, but in his often sombre and moody Seventh Symphony, composed for England, Dvořák allows himself few reminiscences of the Bohemian idiom. Bohuslav Martinů’s Cello Concerto No. 1, on the other hand, is a happy marriage of Czech folk music with 20th-century musical language.
Berliner Philharmoniker
Krzysztof Urbański
Sol Gabetta
© 2014 Berlin Phil Media GmbH
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