More than two centuries after the Baroque era, the English had been waiting for their new great composer. When the young Benjamin Britten wrote his Simple Symphony, it was clear that a new musical super-talent had arrived. Britten was a neoclassicist, filling established forms with new content, but also a great melodist – perhaps the greatest of the 20th century.

In Mozart and Kramář we hear the very sources from which the neoclassicists drew: the secure rules of harmony, rhythm, and form which, when respected, grant a composition naturalness, lightness, and elegance.

Even the romantic Dvořák did not avoid them in his symphonies. He had so many ideas, especially melodic ones, that they needed to be reined in. In his Third Symphony, he managed with only three movements.

Programme

BENJAMIN BRITTEN: Simple Symphony Op. 4
FRANTIŠEK VINCENC KROMMER-KRAMÁŘ: Concerto for Two Clarinets and Orchestra No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 91
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Clarinet Concerto in A major, K 622
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 10

Gábor Varga – clarinet
Igor Františák – clarinet

Ondřej Vrabec – Chief Conductor of the KSO