Program
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104, B. 191 (1894–1895)
Allegro
Adagio ma non troppo
Finale. Allegro moderato
Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88, B. 163 (1889)
Allegro con brio
Adagio
Allegretto grazioso — Molto Vivace
Allegro ma non troppo
The musicAeterna Orchestra
Soloist Alexey Zhilin
Conductor Alexander Sladkovsky
Details
Traditionally, Antonin Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor is described in superlatives: performers, newspaper critics, biographers of the composer call this opus the greatest cello concerto of all time, the king of the genre. Dvořák himself, who had disliked the cello as a solo instrument since his youth, agreed with his admirers. Working as the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America did not prevent Dvořák from composing quickly: the Сello Сoncerto was started on the 8th of November 1894, and on the 9th of February 1895, the composer completed the score. The three-part cycle strikes with its fresh national thematism and its clear, energetic development, the harmonious solution of the solo part, effectively revealing both the technical and timbre capacities of the cello.
Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, unlike the stormy Romanticism of the Seventh and the American connotations of the Ninth, is an ideal example of a national paradigm expressed in a long form. The abundance of everyday Bohemian and Moravian motifs, their diverse character and free, sometimes bizarre development are reminiscent of Mahler’s symphonism. However, sudden bursts of drama lead neither to orchestral cataclysms nor to tragic philosophical generalizations: Dvořák’s ‘song of the native land’ paints a positivist picture of a motley and, in general, very charming world where heroics, sentimentality and stormy festive fun agree well with each other.
Alexey Zhilin
Cellist, concertmaster of the cello group of the musicAeterna Orchestra since 2011. Alexey Zhilin graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory. He is the laureate of more than 15 competitions, including the International Johannes Brahms Competition (Austria), International Luis Segal Competition (Chile), and Isang Yun Competition (South Korea). He tours as a soloist and as part of the David Oistrakh Quartet in Russia and abroad: in Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Japan. Since 2014, he has been teaching at the Department of Cello, Double Bass, Harp and Quartet at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He collaborates with such musicians as Eliso Virsaladze, Teodor Currentzis, Kent Nagano, and many others.
Alexander Sladkovsky
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation (2016), People’s Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan (2020), laureate of the III Prokofiev International Music Competition (1999), Professor of the Department of Opera and Symphony Conducting of the Zhiganov Kazan State Conservatory. He is the laureate of the Sergei Rachmaninoff International Award in the category ‘Special Project in the name of Rachmaninoff’ for special attention to his work and for organizing the ‘White Lilac’ International Festival (2019), as well as the ‘440 Hertz’ Large Orchestral Award in the category ‘Conductor’ (2022).