Anima Eterna Brugge olv. Jos van Immerseel

Historically founded performance practices are relevant not only to the early repertoire that we normally associate with that movement. Anima Eterna offers animated proof of this. They also intrepidly and critically take on 19th and 20th-century music using the weapons the composers had available to them at the time. And as a consequence they enjoy an unprecedented wealth of colour and fabulous expressive potential. In this way they have in recent years restored music by Debussy, Ravel, Orff and others to its original state.
This year they are turning their attention to Eastern Europe, more specifically to the three biggest names from the Czech Republic. Smetana’s music was already identified with the sound of his country during his lifetime. In ‘The Moldau’ he presents a visual ode to nature as experienced in his native country. Dvorák is considered to be Smetana’s musical heir. However, for his Ninth Symphony, which he composed in New York, he took inspiration chiefly from the folk music of Native Americans and the spirituals of black Americans. Janácek’s greatest orchestral work, the ‘Sinfonietta’, now enjoys considerable renewed interest as a result of Murakami’s exhaustive description of it in his international bestseller ‘1Q84’.