Pavel Bořkovec Quartet | String Quartet with Orchestra

Jan VIČAR: Morava. Poem for Orchestra (world premiere)
Bohuslav MARTINŮ: String Quartet with Orchestra, H 207
Josef Suk: Fairy Tale. Suite from incidental music to Radúz and Mahulena, Op. 16

Pavel Bořkovec Quartet
Robert Kružík (conductor)
Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra

In this new concert season, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic performs the world premiere of a work by the Olomouc-based contemporary Czech composer, musicologist and teacher Jan Vičar, whose symphonic composition Morava is dedicated to the Orchestra. “The heartbeat of the earth under the Kralický Sněžník mountain sends out a trickle of water,” the composer explains. “At this point it is just an “M” high above sea level as a river is born. The Morava continues its flow through a picturesque landscape, passing ancient towns. It grows stronger as its tributaries - the Bečva, the Dřevnica and the Dyje - merge into it. Its memory is imprinted with events and human destinies as the "M" becomes a wide and melodious "mo", a fast "ra ra ra", even a frantic "vavavava", where the anthemic "A" of the D Major second inversion chord mixes its waters with the Danube at Devín in Slovakia. Was this reality or just fantasy?"

Bohuslav Martinů's composition catalogued by Halbreich as no. 207 is an intriguing example of the fusion of the chamber and orchestral genres, in which a soloist string quartet performs in dialogue with the orchestra on the principle of the concerto grosso form. The work in three movements, combining elements of neoclassicism with modern harmonies and rhythmic innovations, results in a dynamic interplay reflecting the composer's distinctive musical language and interest in modern musical techniques. The Orchestra plays the work with the Pavel Bořkovec Quartet, which has made a name for itself with the quality of its performances of mainly Czech music of the last two centuries.

It was in 1898 at the request of Julius Zeyer that Josef Suk composed his incidental music for the dramatic tale about Radúz and Mahulena, which he reworked two years later as a mainly lyrical orchestral suite in four movements. Suk, the son-in-law of Antonín Dvořák, wrote this work during what he later described as the most wonderful period of his life, which was inevitably reflected in his music as he himself confirmed: 'This is a piece I worked on at the Dvořáks’ summer country retreat at Vysoká.There was a piano in the room and my beloved Otilka was listening to me outside in the garden.Spring in my soul, spring in my music."

More information: https://www.filharmonie-zlin.cz/en/1318a-a3-borkovec-quartet