| Czech Philharmonic | |
| Tomáš Netopil | Conductor |
| Josef Špaček | Viola |
As an opera conductor, I have had several encounters with a fantastic work by Leoš Janáček, the opera The Makropulos Affair. At about the same time, I was also studying Janáček’s opera suits – one of them, from Jenůfa, was arranged by Tomáš Ille, my friend from my days as a student at the conservatoire and the academy.
We had a long debate about creating a suite from the opera The Makropulos Affair, and I’m glad we can give this new arrangement its world première before the Prague public. I also hope that by doing so, we will be expanding Janáček’s rich, highly original musical legacy. I’m also pleased about collaborating in a new way with Josef Špaček as a viola soloist, and I fully understand his desire to play this extraordinary concertante work by Bohuslav Martinů, which was also once recorded by the legendary Czech violinist Josef Suk.
The Rhapsody-Concerto for viola and orchestra launches Bohuslav Martinů’s final creative period. I have always admired its seeming simplicity, the logical outcome of Martinů’s development as a composer from striking experiments through purification towards an almost transparent means of expression. I also have an affinity for the work’s rhapsodic form, which is not strictly tied to the concerto in the classical sense of the word, but instead is the free expression of the composer’s musical ideas, which he captured in my opinion in an exceptionally evocative way and with great inner strength. Supplementing the evening of Czech music will be Vítězslav Novák’s delightful Slovak Suite, a work I have loved since my days as a student.
Tomáš Netopil