The Cunning Little Composer
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Composer Leoš Janáček based his psychedelic opera "The Cunning Little Vixen" on a comic strip he admired in his native Czech Republic. Turning it into a reflection on the cycle of life and death, Janáček even asked that it be played at his own funeral (it was). We'll hear the orchestral suite from this fascinating work in our first hour, as brought to us by the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
The rest of the evening brings some favorites, including Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme Of Paganini" and dances from another Czech opera, Bedrich Smetana's "The Bartered Bride." Later on, Bruno Walter and the Columbia Symphony give a lively reading of Franz Schubert's love letter to Mozart and Haydn, the Symphony No. 5 in B-flat.
The rest of the evening brings some favorites, including Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme Of Paganini" and dances from another Czech opera, Bedrich Smetana's "The Bartered Bride." Later on, Bruno Walter and the Columbia Symphony give a lively reading of Franz Schubert's love letter to Mozart and Haydn, the Symphony No. 5 in B-flat.
