Gilbert, Capuçon / Dvořák, Janacek

Leoš Janácek, whose Sinfonietta will round off the concert, wrote about Antonín Dvorák: “You know how it is if someone speaks exactly the words you were just about to say? Whenever I was together with Dvorák, it was always like this for me. His personality is like his works: He even takes the melodies from my heart. There is nothing in the world that could destroy such a connection.” The deep friendship between the two Czech composers shows not only at a musical but also at a music theory level. Janácek described Dvorák’s four symphonic poems – of which Polednice (“The Noon Witch”) will be presented – approximately as “the most Czech of all his compositions”. The point of origin was Karel Jaromír Erben’s collection of ballads “The Bouquet”, the Bohemian equivalent to the collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. Bohemian melodies also pervade Dvorák’s Cello Concerto, one of the best-known solo concertos for this instrument. Gautier Capuçon, one of the most famous cellists of our time, will interpret this masterpiece.