HAMBURG, GERMANY – CZECH PHILHARMONIC – MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY, STRAVINSKY

Catriona Morison, mezzo-soprano
Martin Mitterrutzner, tenor
Jongmin Park, bass
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov, conductor

PROGRAMME
Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 »Italian«
Stravinsky: Pulcinella / Ballet in one act with three solo voices

Venue Note:

Only a few can incite the idiosyncratic organism of a large orchestra to such top performances with the tip of their baton alone as Semyon Bychkov. Together with the Czech Philharmonic, which he has headed as chief conductor since 2018, Bychkov will embark on a musical journey south – the programme includes Italian-inspired music by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Igor Stravinsky.

As a child from a good family, the young Mendelssohn went on several educational trips and traveled to Italy, among other places. A determination to enjoy, to absorb all sounds, colours and smells, carried him on his journey and flowed directly into the beginning of the “Italians” – perhaps no other great symphony begins more exuberantly. But this fire is even surpassed by the breathless whirlwind of the dancing final movement, so fasten your seatbelts!

Igor Stravinsky, on the other hand, was asked by the director of the legendary company Balletts Russes to write another work after the spectacular success of his great ballet music: it was to be music based on baroque models by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, to which well-known figures of Italian folk theatre could perform artistic dances and coarse jokes. Stravinsky skilfully transferred Pergolesi’s melodies into his musical language, thus adding a whole new level to the old originals.