Programme:
Franz Schubert: Rondo Brillant in B Minor Op.70
Robert Schumann: The Three Romances for Oboe and Piano, Op. 94
Niccolo Paganini: Caprice No.24, Op. 40 (arr. K. Szymanowski)
Heinrich Ignaz Biber: Sonata Representativa in A Major
Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat Major, Op.18

Cast:
Josef Špaček – violin
Miroslav Sekera – piano

The recitals of one of the best Czech world-class violinists and a concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Josef Špaček are always a special event. He has chosen an attractive program for the Ostrava performance: the event opens with Franz Schubert’s Rondo Brillant, a wonderful piece dedicated to the Czech violinist Josef Slavík. Robert Schumann will keep us in a Romantic mood with his Three Romances from 1849, originally designed for oboe and piano. Paganini’s Caprice will then show us the virtuosity and wild aspects of 19th-century music. The piece was arranged by the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, who added an interesting piano part to it and played with its melodic structure.
The inclusion of Biber’s Sonata Representativa is very fitting. This Czech-Austrian Baroque composer had quite a close relationship with our region – he may have gained his musical education at the Jesuit Gymnasium in Opava. The Sonata for Violin and Piano by Richard Strauss (who is also the author of the well-known work “Thus Spake Zarathustra”) is one of his early works, and it is an interesting and bright contrast to his great symphonic works (such as Symphonia Domestica, which we will also listen to this season).