The concert programme of the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra conducted by Joseph Swensen included works by two composers who often looked for inspiration in the music of bygone eras. However, they transformed these influences in a creative way, skillfully combining elements of the past with their own musical language.

Music historians sometimes consider the Sankt Petersburg premiere of Sergei Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony No. 1 in D major in 1918 as a symbolic moment for the inauguration of a new trend in music – Neoclassicism. The form of this work is strictly classical, as is the orchestration, but the harmonic layer of the symphony surprises with unexpected changes in key. Nevertheless, the work is dominated by the lightness, serenity and humour that Prokofiev borrowed from composers from the eighteenth century, and he commented, ‘It seemed to me that if Haydn lived to see our times, he would have kept his way of writing and at the same time would have adopted something new.’

Maurice Ravel was not very happy about his Introduction and Allegro. Perhaps this was because he wrote this piece in a great hurry, wanting to finish it as soon as possible, just to be on time for a planned holiday trip with his friends. This work had been commissioned by the company Érard, which wanted to present the sonic possibilities of its new harp model. This cheerful and melodic piece, enchanting the listener with its beautiful and refined sound, enjoys great popularity, which seems to prove the composer was too critical about it.

The concert will end with Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto in G minor. The main theme of the first movement was written in Paris, the second – in Voronezh, and Prokofiev completed the orchestration in Baku, while the premiere took place in Madrid. The somewhat complicated history of the concerto reflected the fortunes of its creator, who was then on tour with the violinist Robert Soetens, for whom the work was composed. Perhaps the means of composition used here also reflected the places visited by the artists. The singing melodies in the first movement bring to mind Russian folk music, while in the last one there are castanets, bringing a breath of exoticism to the music.