February 2, февраля 2025 | Zaryadye Concert Hall
Soloist – Alexander Knyazev, cello
Conductor – Anton Shaburov
Dvořák. Concerto for cello and orchestra in B minor, Op. 104
Franck. Symphony in D minor
The coming program of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia in the Zaryadye Hall will contain masterpieces of symphony music written in the last quarter of the 19th century – works by Antonin Dvořák and César Franck. On the conductor podium there will make his NPR debut Anton Shaburov – graduate from the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with Gennady Rozhdestvensky, winner of international contests in Greece, Romania and the I.A.Musin Competition in Russia, and, at present, the artistic director and principal conductor of the Rostov Academic Symphony Orchestra and invited conductor at the Primorye Stage of the Mariinsky Theater.
The night will start with the Cello Concerto by Antonin Dvořák (1895) scored by the composer for Hanuš Wihan, famous virtuoso professor of the Prague Conservatory and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. However, the first performer happened to be Leo Stern, and the world premiere took place on March 19, 1869, to great acclaim. The nostalgic tone of the Concerto was partly caused by the composer's longing for his country (he wrote it in New York) and by the information of the death of his sister-in-law whom he had loved in his youth. The result of his writing brought to the composer artistic satisfaction: 'The opus gives me a great joy and, I suppose, I am not mistaken'. The composer was right in his appreciation: for now, the Concerto is regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of its kind, a gem of the cello music and the touchstone of mastership.
For the solo part in the Zaryadye concert, the NPR has invited their long-time artistic partner, coryphaeus of the Russian cello playing school, RF People's Artist Alexander Knyazev who plays a Carlo Bergonzi cello from the State Collection of Unique Music Instruments. Dvořák's masterstroke is one of the most cherished works for Alexander Knyazev who considers himself to be extremely romantic and invariably entices audiences with expressive deliveries. 'I'd play Dvořák’s Concerto for a hundredth time rather than a second-grade modern music' – confesses the cellist.
The concert will end with César Franck's Symphony in D minor (1888), an awesome score which combined traditions of French and German schools, hints of Romanticism and Classicism and some influence of Ferenc Liszt's symphonic works. It is an original three-movement cycle the middle movement of which fuses lyricism and scherzo. The central point of the Symphony is a human being with his internal world, which leads to prevailing lyricism, increased emotionality and psychological depth inherent in works by later Romantics. For French music, it was a weighty new word. Franck dedicated his only Symphony to his pupil Henri Duparc. It was premiered in the Paris Conservatory on February 17, 1889, under the baton of Jules Garcin.