Gondwana is the name of a prehistoric supercontinent comprising what is now Africa, South America, Antarctica, and India. The movement of tectonic plates relative to each other inspired spectralist Tristan Murail in 1980 to create a composition in which the texture is shaped by the constant transformation of its components. In addition, the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, conducted by Gergely Madaras, will revive the forgotten beauty of Ernő Dohnányi’s symphony and co-perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano concerto with Greek virtuoso Phil Liotis.

Spectralism emerged in the mid-1970s. It utilised the frequency-amplitude spectrum of sound as a source of musical material. In Gondwana, an ambitious orchestral work, Murail scored for orchestra the transformations of a synthetic, disharmonic bell sound and the actual tone of a trombone. While composing, he used electronic tools for calculations, but the extraordinary sound we hear is produced solely by orchestral means. The formal principle of constant change, applied to various aspects of shaping form, serves as a metaphor for the movement of continents. It could be argued that the programmed performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 will deliver not geological but emotional upheavals – a decisive statement in the symbolic tone of pathos and internal disagreement with reality.

The same may be true of the piece performed after the intermission. Its author is the Hungarian pianist and composer Ernő Dohnányi, born one hundred and fifty years ago. He remains, unfortunately, a forgotten figure. This piano virtuoso, often called Liszt’s successor, fell victim to a difficult period in his country’s history following the fall of the Habsburg monarchy. Fate led the instrumentalist across the ocean, to Florida, but the Symphony No. 1 in D minor from 1901, which we will hear, already marks the beginning of his artistic journey. This work firmly falls within the stylistic vein of Brahms, although similarities to other, less conservative late Romantic composers are also perceptible. The five movements of this monumental tour de force are characterised by both clarity of texture and rich contrasts. The symphony captivates with its narrative in an unusual way and can certainly be considered an overlooked gem of its time.