R11 / Suk – Dvořák – Martinů • Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

The renowned conductor Petr Altrichter will present a programme of music by three generations of Czech composers with the PRSO who are interconnected by the teacher-student relationship. Josef Suk, whose brilliant Fantastic Scherzo will be performed as the first piece, was a student of Antonín Dvořák, the author of the symphonic poem The Golden Spinning Wheel, inspired by the ballad of the same name from Karel Jaromír Erben’s collection A Bouquet of Czech Folktales. The evening will culminate with the Czech Rhapsody, a cantata for baritone, organ and orchestra. The young Bohuslav Martinů, a student of Josef Suk, composed it in 1918, the year when Czechoslovakia gained its independence. In his patriotic work, he used the text of a biblical psalm, the poem Bohemia by Jaroslav Vrchlický, and the Saint Wenceslas Chorale. He dedicated the piece to the writer Alois Jirásek. The successful premiere took place in 1919 in the presence of the president of the newly established republic, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.