This Thursday and Friday, the Filharmonie Brno will perform the last major concerts of its 66th season, with two key symphonic works of Romanticism: Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor and “Der Ring des Nibelungen”, a symphonic compilation of Wagner’s operatic tetralogy. Photo credit: Filharmonie Brno
Brno, June 3 (BD) – The evening will begin with Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, one of the most performed symphonies ever. It is still unclear why he did not complete the work, as he abandoned the composition six years before his untimely death.
The second half of the evening will see the “Ring without Words”, which was composed in symphonic form by the American conductor Lorin Maazel. More than 100 musicians appear on stage, including 60 strings, a large brass section and nine percussionists. “This is quite unusual, we rarely play in such a large number. But some of our colleagues will be behind the stage, so the audience will not see them,” said the leader of the percussionists Lukáš Krejčí. Wagner prescribed in the score, for example, the playing of nine anvils of different sizes. “We are going to replace some of them with iron instruments with a beautiful ringing sound, including a blacksmith’s buck,” added Krejčí.
Maazel condensed Wagner’s operatic tetralogy, which lasts a total of 15 hours, into a roughly 70-minute symphonic form. “I am delighted that we will say goodbye to Brno audiences for two months with these great and impressive compositions,” said Marie Kučerová, director of Filharmonie Brno.
Both concerts, conducted by chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies, take place at the Janáček Theatre and begin at 7pm. Tickets are available at the Philharmonic pre-sale, online at the website filharmonie-brno.cz or at the venue half an hour before the concert starts.
Brno Daily provides media support to Filharmonie Brno.
