Czechoslovak Philharmonic at Pohoda 2018
Czechoslovakia had a common football and ice hockey representation, but there were two philharmonic orchestras—music won over sport 2:1 :) Five years ago, we managed to make true for the first time the idea of a common body interpreting the top works of composers from both countries at Pohoda. Now, at the time of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first republic uniting the two countries, the top musicians of both philharmonic orchestras will join their forces again. Conducted by Rastislav Štúr, they will play the state anthems of Czechoslovakia (and the Czech and Slovak anthems at the end), Smetanaʼs Vltava, a selection of dances by Antonín Dvořák, and Musica Concertante by Marián Varga. The art rock legend Collegium Musicum will join the Philharmonics to perform the latter piece and the performers will include Fedor Frešo, Dušan Hájek, František Griglák, and Martin Valihora, The concert will be dedicated to the founding member of Collegium Musicum, Marián Varga, who, sadly, attended Pohoda last year for the last time; this concert, however, surely will not be the last time he will return to our festival through his music.
29. May 2018
FOTO: Tomáš Benedikovič, Denník N
“In 2013, I was only a guest at Pohoda, and the concert of the Czechoslovak Philharmonic was my personal top experience of that edition (and we also had Nick Cave singing “Into My Arms” and Smashing Pumpkins performing “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”)”, said about the concert Tono Repka, the PR manager of the festival. “Specifically, Smetanaʼs Vltava got me. Everything worked perfectly—the place, the performance, and especially the beautiful music onomatopoeically describing the flow of the Vltava River from its two sources up to the massive confluence with the Elbe.”
FOTO: Katarína Ácel
Some quick facts: Vltava is the second part of the cycle of six symphonic poems My Country composed by Bedřich Smetana at the time when he had already lost his hearing. This top piece of the Czech romanticism as well as of classical music in general was the first recording by the Czech Philharmonic on a disk and it is played annually on the 28th October, which is the day of the establishment of pre-war Czechoslovakia. We are very glad that this “masterpiece”, together with other phenomenal works, will be played by top musicians from both Philharmonic Orchestras in the unique ensemble at Pohoda 2018.
Musica Concertante is a composition for symphony orchestra and big beat band, released on the album Divergences (1981). Oliver Rehák wrote “The result is interesting with its linking of the two worlds. It is not a big beat band with an orchestra in the background; it is a big beat band as part of the orchestra. The five-part song lasts over twenty minutes and it combines the sound of keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, and drums with a large symphonic cast.” The concert premiere of the music piece took place in October last year during the Bratislava Music Festival. We are excited that you will be able to listen to it for the second time at our festival. Marian has always been part of our festival and his passing is not changing anything about it.