Birds Take Over Main Stage of Brno Filharmonie

Postponed from last season, this Thursday and Friday will finally see Brno Filharmonie’s special program, Birds, at Besední dům, with a series of pieces themed around the winged singers of the natural world. Photo: Conductor Robert Kružík. Credit: Brno Filharmonie.

Brno, Dec 7 (BD) – Birds have fascinated people since time immemorial – the designers of the first aircrafts as well as writers, poets and painters. “But it is precisely music that draws the most inspiration from them, of all artistic disciplines. Let us remember, for example, Vivaldi’s Spring or Olivier Messiaen’s Exotic Birds. And Mozart, for example, who had a starling in his cage at home, and wrote one of his melodies about it. And we were inspired by the realm of birds when compiling this program,” said Marie Kučerová, the director of Brno Filharmonie.

The orchestra has prepared a program, Birds, in which the main role belongs to the winged singers. This is also the name of one of the pieces, and the main motif of the concert, which will take place on Thursday and Friday in Besední dům. The concert was due to take place last season under the baton of the permanent guest conductor Robert Kružík, but it was canceled due to the pandemic situation and postponed to this season.

Ottorin Respighi’s five-fifth Birds Suite opens the evening. It was created thanks to the study of Baroque authors, whose motifs he instrumented in such a way as to imitate bird sounds as closely as possible, such as the longing call of a dove, a pecking chicken, or a cuckoo. Respighi will be followed by Einojuhani Rautavaara and his Cantus arcticus, a concert for birds and an orchestra. However, the current Finnish author approached the process differently, using recordings from nature in his three-movement composition.

“The composition from 1972 is one of his most famous compositions and uses recordings of birds from the vicinity of the Arctic Circle from the wetlands near the town of Liminka. The middle movement, for example, contains the song of the lark,” Vítězslav Mikeš, the artistic director of Brno Filharmonie, who will play the recordings.

The second half of the evening will offer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Symphony No. 4 in A major. It is also known as “The Italian”, as it was created during travels through that country, whose atmosphere enchanted composers. However, he was not satisfied with it and made several adjustments after its premiere. “There are two versions, but like most orchestras we will play the original, with its greater freedom and melodic freshness,” added Mikeš.

Tickets are available in advance or online on the website filharmonie-brno.cz. To enter the concert, guests must meet the current conditions, found here. Brno Daily is a proud partner of Brno Filharmonie.

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