Lucerne Festival 2018 – Sol Gabetta, Mahler Chamber Orchestra – François Xavier Roth

Martinu’s First Cello Concerto is simply magnificent, both in its musical substance and as a work for cello. The orchestral writing is lush, the themes, which are based on Bohemian folk melodies, are extremely appealing, and Sol Gabetta find its rhythmic structures in particular highly interesting. Folk music-like moments, this time Hungarian in origin, will be heard in Bartok’s Divertimento at the start of this concert. Later on, François-Xavier Roth and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra lead us into the realm of childhood with Bizet’s Jeux d’Enfants. The programme ends with a detour to a chicken farm in Haydn’s La Poule.