Programme:
Johannes Brahms
The Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn for Orchestra, Op. 56a

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for French Horn and Orchestra, No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495

Ottorino Respighi
Pines of Rome

Claude Debussy
The sea, three symphonic sketches

Cast:
Kateřina Javůrková – French horn
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Sergio Alapont – Conductor

We start today’s travelogue in Vienna with the guide Kateřina Javůrková, the winner of the Prague Spring Competition in 2013 in the field of French horn. Vienna gave the world the most important of musical classicism, and when later another style, romantic, won in Europe, it comes at least with Brahms, who refused to keep up with time and reverentially followed the classical legacy. But let’s pass the Alps and look more south. Respighi’s colourful orchestral trilogy is a special honour for the Eternal City. Besides Roman festivals and fountains it is also about the iconic pines located at four places in ancient Rome at different stages of the day. It was Debussy, who was the best of all composers to convey the impressive colourfulness from the Impressionist canvas to the musical colours. His vision of the endless sea surface as a whole as well as the endless sequence of ever-changing details perfectly captures the tension between the stability and the disunity of this mighty element.