Classics set for hands of jazz musicians at joint PRSO-Big Band concert
The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra has prepared a very special evening for its supporters filled with jazz and classical music, during which Czech Radio’s two famous ensembles will come together on one stage.
It also promises two world premieres – pieces by Ondřej Brousek and Jan Kučera. All within the concert “The PRSO and the Big Band – Classics in the Hands of Jazz Musicians” at the Municipal House on 13 February at 19:30.
The audience can see for themselves how well jazz legends, classical greats and contemporary composers can go together in one concert as they enjoy pieces by Duke Ellington, Antonín Dvořák, Billy Strayhorn, Modest Mussorgsky, Jan Jirucha and Aram Khachaturian.
The world premieres of works by Ondřej Brousek and Jan Kučera will be the icing on the cake of this evening of music.
“The piece ‘Golden Age Rhapsody’ isn’t so much about a golden time. It’s more about a state – a golden intoxication on sound, playfulness and childlike boisterousness. In the case of such a massive orchestral-jazz group, I didn’t really want to create a composition that was especially artistically deep, but rather one that was first and foremost entertaining,” said Ondřej Brousek.
For the audience, listening should evoke a carefree feeling, a gentle smile and perhaps even a recollection of how as children they perceived music purely, without outside influences.
Another piece set to premiere at the concert is Jan Kučera’s Travelling Blues, which he composed in a single day in October last year.
“Travelling Blues is a piece about the travelling of a musician, which is an essential, substantial part of our profession. It’s travel for work, sometimes monotonous, sometimes tiring, but for the most part revealing and wonderful. During the trumpet solo an attentive listener won’t miss the quotation from the Scherzo from Dvořák’s New World Symphony, here a stylised rhythmic bass figure of sorts. In his day Antonín Dvořák managed to travel a large part of the world and this subtle reference to his motif is a kind of expression of my admiration,” Jan Kučera said of his inspiration for the piece.
The conductor’s baton will also be wielded by two exceptional figures: the honorary principal conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimír Válek, and Vlado Valovič, leader of the Gustav Brom Czech Radio Big Band.
Czech Radio will broadcast the concert live on its arts station Vltava.
