Czech Philharmonic ⬩ Magdalena Kožená

“The way my father and I played Dvořák's Slavonic Dances over and over again during my childhood and adolescence probably influenced to a large extent my becoming a musician. Coming here, to the birthplace of these dances, and recording them with the Czech Philharmonic is a really beautiful thing for me. And we'll see where it leads!” said Simon Rattle at the press conference at which he announced his plans with the leading Czech orchestra. A live recording of both series of Slavonic Dances will be made at concerts in the 2024/2025 season and should be released on the PENTATONE label in the autumn of 2025.

Programming Antonín Dvořák and Kurt Weill on a single evening exemplifies the artistic and dramaturgical ambitions that Rattle brings to the Czech Philharmonic. “I am fascinated by what pieces the orchestra plays often and what pieces remain rather rare. There are many areas we can explore. There are certainly pieces that I look forward to, because they are a kind of family heritage for the orchestra. But equally there are pieces that I would like to hear because they have not been played here before,” explained the current Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

And this is the case with The Seven Deadly Sins. With playwright Bertold Brecht, Kurt Weill wrote this “sung ballet” in Paris in the early 1930s just before they both emigrated from Nazi Germany. This was to be this creative powerhouse’s last collaboration in which Brecht employed his notorious acerbity and Weill took inspiration from the popular music of the day. This satirical one-act opera with its colourful cabaret-jazz score captures one of the celebrated musical styles of the first half of the twentieth century. And as far as the deadly sins are concerned, to understand the drama, one only needs to remember the worst sin of all: to not have two pennies to rub together.