ALL ROADS LEAD TO BRNO

SERGEI PROKOFIEV Symphony-Concerto in E minor for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 125
RICHARD STRAUSS Don Juan, symphonic poem, Op. 20
LEOŠ JANÁČEK Taras Bulba, rhapsody for orchestra

Daniel Müller-Schott cello
Filharmonie Brno
conductor Tomáš Hanus

Richard Strauss’s music has been a regular part of Brno’s (German) concert and theatre repertoire since the 1890s. During his second visit to Brno in 1911, Strauss appeared in the German House as the conductor of the Brünner Philharmoniker, with whom he performed Beethoven’s Eroica as well as his symphonic poems Don Juan and Tod und Verklärung.

Taras Bulba, inspired by Gogol’s short story of the same name, ranks alongside the Sinfonietta as one of Leoš Janáček’s most famous symphonic works. It was composed during the First World War, but was first heard by the public at a symphonic concert at Brno’s National Theatre under the baton of František Neumann on 9 October 1921.

The second-last day of 1938 marked a milestone which put Brno on the world’s musical map – the world premiere of Sergei Prokofiev’s most famous ballet, Romeo and Juliet, at Brno’s Zemské Theatre. The same year also saw Prokofiev complete his Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 58, which he later reworked into the Symphony-Concerto, Op. 125.