Czech national anthem

Ukrainian national anthem

Valentin Silvestrov
Hymne – 2001

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 1 in F♯ minor Op. 1

Krzysztof Penderecki
Symphony No. 2

Carlo Gesualdo (arr. Stanislaw Skrowaczewski)
Six madrigals

Vadym Kholodenko – piano
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Andrey Boreyko – conductor
Nikolai Lugansky – piano

Rachmaninoff wrote the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 1 when he was seventeen, and the second and third movements he composed a year later. What is remarkable is that he managed to preserve the youthful freshness of the piece even after he revised it in 1917. From the performer’s point of view, the piece is not only composed well, but also thought through performance-wise – maybe because Rachmaninoff himself was a performer. The basis of success is flawless execution of piano play.

Penderecki’s Symphony No. 2, nicknamed “Christmas Symphony”, from 1980 is a tribute to romantic music. It is no wonder then, that when it was first performed on the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1981, it was like the festival returned to its roots in 1956. This Penderecki’s piece is closer to Tchaikovsky’s compositions rather than the trends of the 20th century.