The fanfarelike theme opening the first piece in the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra concert programme – during which the musicians will be led by the associate concertmistress Karolina Podorska – is often described by listeners as an aesthetic and gentle awakening. The first bars of Mozart’s Serenade No. 13, the famous Eine kleine Nachtmusik, were for many the first invitation not only to the world of the musical genius born in Salzburg, but also to concert halls in general.
Therefore, if we were to treat contact with this short piece as a musical initiation, then this evening the artists from Wrocław will also take us further. The enchanting lightness, danceability and cheerfulness of this short work composed in circumstances that are not fully explained will forever constitute a model of innocence, the achievement of which in art will probably never be possible. If only for this reason, it is worth returning to Eine kleine Nachtmusik.
The ecstatic Poème, which will be performed next, carries a completely different quality. The most famous composition by the French composer Ernest Chausson, from the end of the 19th century, was created at the request of the famous violin virtuoso Eugène Ysaÿe. It is no wonder, then, that the musician facing the solo part in this piece meets quite a challenge.
If any composer of the last century can be said to have tried to regain innocence in music, it is certainly Arvo Pärt. The Estonian, celebrating his ninetieth birthday this year, has sought it through a radical limitation of artistic means, which, however, has a completely different dimension than American minimal music. The touching, three-movement Fratres, built in the form of variations from 1977, is one of his most important works.
At the end of the concert, we will hear the Saint Paul Suite, written by Gustav Holst for the string orchestra of pupils at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London, where the composer was employed for almost three decades. The cheerfulness of the music and its use of traditional dances and melodies give it the extraordinary ability to evoke a longing for Merry Old England even in those who have never set foot on English soil.