Programme Guide

With at least two of his works, Bedřich Smetana added to his country’s cultural heritage: the cycle Má vlast, and the opera The Bartered Bride, from which we will hear the fast-paced overture in this concert. Bohuslav Martinů’s Second Violin Concerto is more restrained, reflecting the composer’s state of mind when he wrote the work in exile in the USA during the Second World War. His homesickness is conveyed through many of the Czech folk-inspired melodies. Five decades before, Dvořák’s Symphony “From the New World”, full of inspiration and verve, originated in a similar way, leaving a lasting monument to Czech (much more than to American) folk music.

Mariss Jansons was chief conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, to name but two, and has been a firm friend of the Berliner Philharmoniker since his debut in 1976. Among his recordings which first attracted the attention of the international music world is his recording of Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony, full of emotional depth and exciting details: a performance that still impresses today.