Programme:
Bedřich Smetana
Vltava from the cycle of symphonic poems called Má Vlast (“My Homeland”)

Josef Suk
About the constant love of Radúz and Mahulena and their trials (1st part from the Fairy Tale suite, Op. 16)

Leoš Janáček
Death of Ostapov from the rhapsody for Orchestra, Taras Bulba

Antonín Dvořák
The Noon Witch, the symphonic poem, Op. 108

Richard Wagner
A prelude to the opera Parsifal

Franz Liszt
Totentanz (“Dance of the Dead”) – Paraphrase on Dies irae for Piano and Orchestra

Hector Berlioz
Witches’ Sabbath, 5th movement from the Symphonie Fantastique

Cast:
Martina Kociánová – presenter
Maurizio Baglini – piano
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Heiko Mathias Förster – Chief Conductor of the JPO

It was Liszt and Berlioz who developed the way of presenting a non-musical program, which means the stories, characters, ideas or natural phenomena, in their compositions. For the rest of the nineteenth century, the musical program became the main theme of debates on the nature and possibilities of music. The question of whether the music is “saying something” was also approached by the Czech composers.