SAY & DVOŘÁK: IN NATURE’S REALM

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK In Nature’s Realm, overture, Op. 91
FAZIL SAY Mother Earth, piano Concerto, Op. 111
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 5 in F Major, Op. 76

Fazıl Say, piano
Filharmonie Brno
conductor Dennis Russell Davies

Nature is both the source of life and a force which transcends us. A musical portrayal of nature in these two dimensions forms the  dramaturgical thread running through this concert.

Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 5 (1875) is sometimes referred to as the “Pastoral Symphony”. The key of F major has long been associated with images of nature, and the very opening of the symphony – introducing its light-hearted and cheerful principal theme in the solo woodwinds – confirms this tradition.

Dvořák completed the overture In Nature’s Realm on 8 July 1891 at his summer residence in Vysoká, where he experienced his relationship with nature from a dual perspective: as a peaceful environment and as a life-giving force, an omnipresent element of which he himself felt part.

The Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say will appear in Brno as the soloist for his piano concerto Mother Earth (2024), a celebration of nature as well as a warning about the climate crisis.