Brahm’s Rinaldo

Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Robert Jindra – conductor
Federico Kasik – violin (concertmaster of the Staatskapelle Dresden)
Emmanuel Graf – cello (concertmaster of the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra)
Marek Kozák – piano
Benjamin Bruns – tenor
Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno (male voices)
Petr Fiala – choirmaster

Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 56 (33′)
Johannes Brahms: Rinaldo, cantata for tenor, male choir and orchestra, Op. 50 (39′)

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.Ludwig van Beethoven

This December concert by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra brings together three solo instruments, male choir, and full orchestra in a programme that reveals different facets of musical Romanticism.

The evening opens with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano in C major, known as the “Triple Concerto”. In this unusual work, the three solo instruments appear less as competing virtuosos than as a chamber ensemble in dialogue with the orchestra. The cello part plays a particularly prominent role. The work is distinguished by its clear form, lyrical melodies and the festive character of the final movement.

The second half of the evening presents Brahms’s cantata Rinaldo, inspired by a text by Johann Wolfgang Goethe. The story of the knight Rinaldo, torn between the enchantment of Armida’s realm and the call of duty, unfolds in a compelling combination of tenor solo, male choir and orchestra. The work is among Brahms’s most remarkable, though less frequently performed, choral-orchestral compositions.