Einojuhani Rautavaara
Epitaph for Bela Bartok

Béla Bártok
Piano Concerto No. 3 in E major, Sz. 119, BB 127

Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 104 in D major, H. 1/104, “London Symphony”

Lukáš Vondráček – piano
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Gábor Káli – conductor

Bártok, diagnosed with leukaemia, worked on his Third piano concerto during the last months of his life in 1945. His death came before he could finish the sheet music and so the last 17 bars of the concert were composed by his friend and student Tibor Serly. The concert premiered in February 1946 in Philadelphia with pianist György Sándor, another Bartók’s friend. Bartók composed the concert as a birthday present for his wife, pianist Ditta Pástzory. Although he worked on it aware of his impending death, we do not find tragedy and despair in this elegant neoclassicist piece, but nostalgia and love.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 from 1795 is his last symphony and the last of the twelve London symphonies. The composer was aware of the cosmopolitan tastes of the local audience and he wanted to surprise them with something new. Indeed – the London symphonies are not only Haydn’s masterpieces, but they also mark the progress of the genre as a whole. The premier was successful beyond belief. Haydn wrote in his diary: “The whole company was thoroughly pleased and so was I. I made 4000 gulden on this evening: such a thing is possible only in England.” Considering the price of silver from which the coins were made, it was almost 27 thousand dollars.