«Music of the Memory. Convoy 73»

British cellist Clive Greensmith will visit Ukraine where accompanied by «INSO-Lviv» orchestra he will play solo in the first ever full orchestra performance of a piece composed back in 1920s. Concerto for Cello and orchestra which will see its world premiere in Lviv was composed by Pál Hermann, a Hungarian virtuoso cellist and composer of Jewish origin. In 1920-1930s he toured actively throughout Europe with concerts and was a supporter and ardent promoter of then-modern music, including among others pieces by Hindemith, Bartók and Kodály.
The history behind the Concerto, just as well as the fate of its composer, is a difficult one: at one point it was forbidden, later it was lost, and only some parts of the work have been discovered recently being completed by the modern composer Fabio Conti (Italy). The process of the composer’s name re-discovery involves documentaries: director Hahn Nguyen (Vietnam) makes a documentary film titled «Following Pál Hermann» about his life and work. During the rehearsals and the Concerto premiere in Lviv, the disc will be recorded by the label Toccata Classics (Great Britain).
The concert will be attended by the family of composer Pál Hermann.

Unfortunately, composer’s fate had a tragic turn. After World War II unleashed, Hermann fled to France where he hid himself under a fake name and documents to conceal his Jewish origin. But in 1944 his was caught and sent to the Drancy concentration camp, and from there he was deported by train in the so called «Convoy 73» in the direction of Lithuania. His track was lost.
Historical reference:
«Convoy 73» (http://www.convoi73.org/indexa1.html)
In Drancy, a town in the outskirts of Paris, from August 20, 1941 to August 22, 1944, there was a concentration camp that contained about 76,000 Jewish people: women, children and the elderly ones. On May 15, 1944, «Convoy 73» comprised of 878 deportees was sent from Drancy. It is known that the convoy was sent to Kovno (now Kaunas in Lithuania) and Revel (now Tallinn, Estonia), but its further fate still remains unknown. Every year, starting in 1994, on the first Sunday after May 15, relatives of the deported people gather in Drancy to honor their memory.

Alongside the world premiere of the Cello Concerto the program will include symphonic masterpieces of the late Romanticism period – Dvořák’s «Carnival» Overture and Symphony No6. One can trace the slight influence of Brahms in Dvorak’s Symphony with whom Dvořák was personally acquainted and whose Symphony No 2 served a prototype for the Czech composer’s piece.

Sunday 20.05.2018 / 18:00

S.Lyudkevych Concert Hall

80-120-150-200-250

Subscriptions are valid

Program

Program:

Antonin Dvořák. Carnival Overture, Op. 92

Pál Hermann. Ophélie for Soprano and Orchestra (orchestration by Fabio Conti)

Pál Hermann. Cello Concerto (realization by Fabio Conti)

Antonin Dvořák. Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60

 

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