Walpurgis Night

Description

On Walpurgis Night, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and conductor Olari Elts will perform works inspired by the theme of Walpurgis Night by composers of different nationalities.

The concert depicting a stormy witches’ sabbath will be opened by the symphonic poem “Night on Bald Mountain” by Mussorgsky, which became famous primarily due to Walt Disney’s animated film “Fantasia”. The poem Noon Witch by the Czech poet Karel Jaromír Erben has inspired several of his compatriots.

While the Estonian audience has already heard the version of Dvořák, the work for choir and orchestra by the younger Czech composer Ondřej Adámek, completed in 2013, will be performed here for the first time. “Walpurg Burlesque”, originally written for piano by Rudolf Tobias, and “The First Walpurgis Night” by Felix Mendelssohn are based on the Walpurgis Night scene in Goethe’s Faust. “Walpurg Burlesque”, later orchestrated by Eduard Tubin, is one of the most unique works of Tobias. Vardo Rumessen has aptly described it as ‘rushing to fantastic heights, carried by a mad element, magical in its dreamy visions, dionysical in its primordial vigour’.

Programme

Modest Mussorgsky
“Night on the Bare Mountain” (“Ночь на Лысой горе”) ~10’

Ondřej Adámek
“The Noon Witch” (“Polednice”) ~20’

Rudolf Tobias
“Walpurg Burlesque” (arr. by Eduard Tubin) ~6’

Felix Mendelssohn
“The First Walpurgis Night” (“Die erste Walpurgisnacht”) ~30’

Performers

TUURI DEDE mezzo-soprano
JUHAN TRALLA tenor
TAMAR NUGIS baritone (Estonian National Opera)
HENRY TIISMA bass
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Conductor OLARI ELTS

ERSO TV broadcasts are created in cooperation with Estonian Public Broadcasting & Helipilt Grupp OÜ.

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