12. 8. 2025
WELCOME TO SEASON 80!
BAIBA SKRIDE violin
ROBERT KRUŽÍK conductor
OLOMOUC MILITARY BAND
BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Bohuslav Martinů
Thunderbolt P-47, H.309
Dmitry Shostakovich
ViolinConcerto no. 2 in C sharp minor, Op. 129
Leoš Janacek
Sinfonietta
Bohuslav Martinů’sThunderbolt P-47 is a lively orchestral scherzo commissioned by the then director of the American National Symphony Orchestra, Johannes Kindler. He was inspired by the eponymous legendary American fighter plane which roamed the European skies during the Second World War. This fresh dynamic composition reflects not only Martinů's admiration for this remarkable flying machine, but also the atmosphere of expectation and hope of that time.
The stage then lights up when this evening’s soloist Baiba Skride, the acclaimed Latvian violinist noted for her virtuoso technique and deeply musical interpretation, and winner of the prestigious Queen Elizabeth competition, joins the Orchestra and its chief conductor Robert Kružík in a performance of Dmitry Shostakovich’s second violin concerto, his gift to the violin virtuoso David Oistrakh for the latter’s 60th birthday. In his eagerness, however, Shostakovich evidently miscalculated slightly as he formally presented the work to Oistrakh a year early in 1967. The composer redeemed himself for this mistake, though well-intentioned, by writing another piece for Oistrakh, his only violin sonata, the following year.
Shostakovich’s concerto was inspired by the unique qualities of Oistrakh's playing, his extraordinary sense of warmth, sensitivity and technical bravura. The result is a work with long vocal passages in which the violin really "sings", and at the same time providing dramatic contrasts that serve to underscore the depth and emotion of the work.
The concert concludes with Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta written in 1926 and subsequently dedicated to the Czechoslovak armed forces. Janáček's original idea intended the work for a large symphony orchestra supplemented by a brass section of military musicians, and we hear it in this authentic form tonight as the Orchestra joins forces with the Olomouc Military Band in a climax as exciting as our entire 80th season, which formally opens with this concert.
Tickets are on sale online, or at the FBM Box Office.