Sinfonia Iuventus in Radziejowice

6 July, 9:00 PM
House of Creative Work [Dom Pracy Twórczej], Radziejowice

Performers:
Konstanty Andrzej Kulka | violin
The Jerzy Semkow  Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk | Conductor

Programme:
Pyotr Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
intermission
Pyotr Tchaikovsky –  Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64

Pyotr Tchaikovsky spent the spring of 1878 at Lake Geneva, healing  emotional wounds after a disastrous marriage, which lasted only three months. Thanks to the Alpine landscape, he recovered from depression and his relaxed mood and optimism were soon reflected in a new piece, namely Violin Concerto in D major, which was the only work for violin in Tchaikovsky’s career and a milestone in the history of violin music. Its dominant moods are those ranging from cheerful lyricism to exuberant joy and vitality, which can be heard in the themes of fast Russian dances in the finale. The work was originally dedicated to Leopold Auer but he refused to perform it and referred to the concerto “unperformable”. It was only three years later that Adolf Brodsky undertook the challenge of performing it; the Vienna premiere met with bitter criticism (E. Hanslick, an influential critic, made some withering remarks about the concert). The difficult beginnings of this piece, which nowadays belongs to the strict canon of world concert literature, are a good example of how irrelevant the allegation that an innovative piece is “unperformable” can be, and to what extent even the most recognized critics can be mistaken. The legendary violinist virtuso Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, regarded as one of the most prominent violinists of his generation, will bring out the best of the masterpiece which conveys a great variety of moods.

Symphony No. 5 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky with its ideological dimension (per aspera ad astra  – through hardships to the stars) is sometimes compared to the famous Beethoven Symphony No. 5, however, in this work the emotional tonal trajectory between the tragic andante and the triumphal finale is even more noticeable. One may perceive an analogy here based on single characteristic motif used in the piece (which is sometimes referred to as “the fate theme”, similarly to Beethoven’s work): a gloomy melody, recurring in different contexts, played in the first movement in low register on the clarinet. Symphony in E minor is one of the most characteristic works by the composer (and the neo-Romantic idiom of Russian music in general), thus it has enjoyed unflagging popularity since the day of its premiere.

The monographic concert of Tchaikovsky’s music will be conducted by Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, a world famous Conductor, an Art Director (since 1998) of the Silesian Philharmonic and Art Director and jury member of the Grzegorz Fitelgerg International Competition for Conductors in Katowice. He has cooperated with the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra for many years as Art Director and is currently a member of its Arts Council and Artistic Coordinator. [Piotr Maculewicz]

Free admission!

The concert is organized by the House of Creative Work in Radziejowice.