Gabriela Demeterová

New Music Marathon

Horologe of Dreamers

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editorial

Dear readers. I must immediately make twoapologies for this issue. First andforemost for its late publication,the result of technical problems.The second apology relates to theinterview with the Trio des Iscles inthe last issue. The interviewer wasnot Jana Pospíšilová but MarkétaPospíšilová.The title interview in this issuepresents Gabriela Demeterová, aviolinist who while by no means anewcomer on the Czech scene stillalways manages to have surprisesin store. Her most recent surprisewas adding a viola to her musicalarsenal and releasing an album inwhich she played on both instru-ments - at the same time. Lovers of contemporary music havealready come to associate theautumn with the New MusicMarathon – a festival that presentsa series of interesting composersand performers and has alreadyestablished a certain tradition.Free improvisation is a peculiargenre, and hard to describe inwords. Nonetheless we try the bestwe can in this issue. First there is areview of a CD by theDurman&Posejpal duo, and then anarticle on Horologe of Dreamers, afree association of free improvis-ers. I hope that in 2003 all our readersfind time for good music. Perhapseven some of the music that youread about in our magazine.

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Czech Music is issued bimonthly by the Czech Music Information Centre with the support of the ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Bohuslav Martinů Foundation, Leoš JanáčekFoundation and the Czech Music Fund The Editor: Matěj Kratochvíl, Translation: Anna Bryson Graphic design: Ditta Jiřičková, Photos: Karel Šuster (p. 4, 8-11, 14-15) and archives DTP: HD EDIT, Print: TobolaISSN 1211-0264The subscription fee is 25 for Europe, $ 30 for overseas countries, or respective equivalents.

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍLEDITOR

Not just play the notesAn interview with Gabriela DemeterováMATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

Kunuk - An Eskimo MessageMARKÉTA DVOŘÁKOVÁ

A Festival in Defiance of CircumstancesMATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

Chrom-vanad universal and the Heavenly OrganPAVEL KLUSÁK

Three Economical OperasMATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

CD Review

What pieces can we look forward to atthe concert?

MC In the first half there will be Hindemith’sTrauermusik for viola and piano andShostakovich’s Sonata for Viola and Piano. Inthe second half we’ve put cheerful violinpieces like Kreisler’s Chinese Tambourine,Sarasate’s Gypsy Melodies and Prokofiev’sThree Pieces from Romeo and Juliet.

Why have you decided to take on theviola as well as the violin?

GD Because I like to get to grips with diffi-cult tasks and I don’t like just sticking in thesame spot. The velvet tone of the viola hasalways fascinated me, and its a very pleasantchange for the ear after the violin, which ismore incisive and dominating But the mainreason is that the viola extends my reper-toire, since there are beautiful pieces for theviola, like the Shostakovitch Sonata, forexample, that hasn’t been played in theCzech Republic for a long time, and may notbe heard for a long time to come here either.It’s a very momentous piece, which is notoften performed. I said to myself - why not

choose something non-traditional to startwith? And I also wanted to use it to launch aseries of concerts in which I want to offer thepublic a rather more diverse programme.Alternating the violin and viola might also bemore interesting for audiences than the clas-sic violin recital that everyone offers.

The viola has the reputation of a rather"poor relation" among classical musi-cians. Is it that way in reality?

GD The viola has always been in the positionof a kind of “makeweight” to the violin. Mostparts for it have also been composed in thisspirit – just as an accompaniment. But inthese Stamic Duets for example, it is anequal partner. The position of the viola hasalso been affected by the fact that worseviolinists often retrained as viola players.

But in recent years hasn’t the violaseemed to be getting a place in thesun?

GD That’s thanks to a number of performers.There are a few people on the internationalscene, for example Pinchas Zuckermann,

who play brilliantly on the violin and the viola.So it‘s emerging that playing the viola has itsown meaning and the clichés about it are notentirely correct.

On the last CD you recorded a duetwith yourself. Why?

GD I had the idea of doing something non-traditional, and actually I had already triedsomething similar on one of my earlier proj-ects – it was the CD The Magic Violin[Kouzelné housle]. There I recorded using aplayback of Strauss’s Tales from the ViennaWoods, arranged for me and the Collegiumby Otmar Mácha. He wrote the arrangementfor two violins and I had the idea of playingthe second part myself as well. It was quiteinteresting to have the two parts played bythe same person, so that there’s perfect har-mony of expression. Then when Supraphonwere considering a new CD but didn’t havethe funds for a major project with an orches-tra, it occurred to me to combine the violawith the violin. I had found the Stamic duet ina bookshop in London about six yearsbefore, but at the time I never thought thatone day I would put them to use. I liked the

The violinist Gabriela Demeterová is already one of the established stars of the Czech musicscene. Apart from performing she is also involved in organising a festival devoted to Baroquemusic and she is the leader of the ensemble known as the Collegium of Czech Philharmonists,with whom she plays this music. Last Autumn she released a CD of Karel Stamic duets for vio-lin and viola, playing both the parts herself. She first presented herself live as a violist in mid-November in the Rudolfinum in Prague. Our interview took place during a pause betweenrehearsals for this concert, and included the pianist Markéta Cibulková as well as GabrielaDemeterová. The former is now studying in Graz in Austria and has already, for example,worked with Charles Mackeras and the Czech Philharmonic.

2 | interview | czech music 6 | 2002

not just play the notes

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

czech music 6 | 2002 | interview | 3

fact that the viola part was genuinely inter-esting, and not limited just to a few notes ofaccompaniment. First I recorded the violinpart and then added the viola part. It wasfascinating, but also difficult. Fortunately Iwas helped by Zdeněk Zahradník and TomášZikmund’s excellent recording team.

Didn’t using playback make it neces-sary to play more mechanically thanwhen two musicians are playingtogether at the same time?

GD Stamic is Classicism, where you don’thave much latitude with the tempos anyway,and often these pieces are constructed pre-cisely on a mechanical rhythm. They includevery difficult and fast passages that have tobe played with complete precision. Andbecause I feel it in the same way on the violaand the violin, the result can be even moreprecise. When I finally heard the result I wassurprised how good it sounded. I had been alittle bit scared, but musically the piecesdidn’t suffer

What’s your attitude to the use of tech-nology in music?

GD I adore technology, and I’m a computerenthusiast, but I’m cautious about it in thecontext of music. I’ve tried out an electronicviolin connected to computer and I alreadyhave some idea of the sort of pieces thatcould be wittily arranged for this instrumentusing electronic acoustic possibilities. Thatwould probably interest me as a kind of joke,but otherwise I don’t feel the need to haveeverything. Or at least it hasn’t got to me sofar, but perhaps one day I’ll be more interest-ed.

Is it hard to find a good accompanist?

GD Accompanist… it’s quite a horrible label.I’d rather say partner. Yes it is hard. In life youonly meet a few people whom you reallyunderstand and vice versa. .

What kind of qualities must someonehave to be the right partner?

GD Above all he or she must be on the samewavelength. It’s not precisely definable, butthe person must basically be able to readyour thoughts, so that you can react to eachother correctly. As soon as your partner failsto react, the music suffers. The personshould be on your level at least, and if possi-ble even better.

What does the other half of the part-nership think?

MC Playing with someone is great. You don’thave to think up everything for yourself,there’s less work involved and sometimesthere can be a surprise, which is an essentialaspect of concerts and also the most enjoy-able thing about it. So far I have been luckyin my partners. Chamber music is compulso-

ry at the place where I’m studying, but I havemanaged to find a hugely talented flautist –she’s five years younger than me but there’sperfect communication between us.

GD I’m not even looking for chamber groupsbigger than a duo, because the probability ofmore musicians on the same wavelengthcoming together is so low. Audiences don’tnecessarily notice the problem, but the musi-cians can feel it.

Does it make any difference whetherthe partner is a man or woman?

GD I like playing with women, and so far Ihaven’t found many good partners amongmen. Men concentrate too much on tech-nique and too little on emotion, althoughrecently I heard Norbert Heller play, forexample, and I would be able to work withhim. For the most part I work with women.

As a woman, what kind of authority doyou have in your ensemble?

GD The musicians have to obey me. I don’tuse kid gloves there. Sometimes they have ahard time, because they come to me after afull day’s rehearsal in the Philharmonicwhere they’ve been struggling with Mahler,and I want them to play accurately andcleanly. But during that time I think theensemble has improved and it has drive.That’s probably the most important thing. MC We don’t quarrel.

On the one hand you play the Romanticrepertoire and Twentieth Century andon the other you devote yourself toBaroque. How easily do the two gotogether?

GD I like alternating genres. Baroque isactually something like a hobby. My mainarea is naturally Romantic music, and that is

the music I have to play all the time at con-certs. My approach to the Baroque is pecu-liar in the sense that I play it on a moderninstrument, but I am still interested in playingin the correct way for the time. AfterShostakovich, Baroque is like balm.

Do the two areas influence each other?

GD Of course. Recently I played Igor Stravin-sky’s violin concerto, in which the composerdraws a great deal on Bach. Given that Iknow how to play Baroque, I can identify itproperly in Stravinsky as well.

MC We have just been dealing with thesame thing in Shostakovitch. There isBaroque note symbolism in every barof it. It’s not in any way hidden, but youneed to know how to read it.

GD Today, when access to Baroque sourcesis so easy, I think every performer has anobligation to learn a little about these mat-ters. Otherwise you are not properly profes-sionally equipped, and all you do is read thenotes.

Anyone who enters on a professionalmusical career must be very certainthat he or she has something to offer –something new that the competitionlacks. Is it hard to maintain this convic-tion?

GD In our field – even at the top – there areonly a few people who are true musicians.Only these few people think about musicanalytically.

MC It’s a question of personal courage. Youare constantly thrown back just on your ownfeelings and intuitions, which are hard todefend. You have to keep on defending your-self and the most interior emotions, withwhich you go to the marketplace. Just ful-

4 | interview | czech music 6 | 2002

filling the demands of the market is easier. GD It is very difficult and already begins atcompetitions. I had to cope with it with myteacher when I went to some competition. Itwas clear that I had a good idea for the per-formance, but the jury included x and y and Iknew they wouldn’t like it. And so I had tocompromise in the interests of winning.Competitions are where a career begins, andyou draw attention to yourself. Later ofcourse you don’t want to compromise in yourown eyes. If you play a Dvořák Concerto, forexample, according to your own ideas andnot as it “ought to be played”, the critics wontlike it. But I don’t play for the critics. Theimportant thing for me is a full hall and anenthusiastic audience. When someonecomes to me after a concert and says thathe is ninety years old and now he can die,that’s better than any reviews. I don’t want toplay by rote. I want to rank among the fewpeople on this planet who genuinely knowhow to read the notes.

Do you take any notice of reviews?

GD Reviewers know how to stab and wound,because we are brought up to be successful,and that includes good criticism.

MC But there are secondary ways of keep-ing up the belief that my playing is good. Youneed a circle of people whom you trust.When Gabriela comes to me and tells methat there was such and such a mistake, Ican believe her.

GD It’s good to have at least one personwhose opinion you can trust. And when he orsee says it’s good, then it’s good. After play-ing I very often have a bad feeling, becauseone tries to play absolutely perfectly. Andthen I really need to have someone else tellme how it sounded from the outside.

It’s frequent today to take methods

from pop music and use them in seri-ous music. You have both alreadyshot videoclips to go with somepieces. How far can this convergenceof genres be taken?

MC It depends on the idea. If the idea isgood and relevant, then you can do any-thing. Personally I wouldn’t be againstplaying with Sting. It all depends onwhether you know what you’re doing andwhat you want to say.

GD We live in the era of communicationstechnologies and if we don’t come toterms with the fact that the world is mov-ing in this direction, then it doesn’t matterhow right I am – nobody will know aboutme and I shall just be playing for myself. IfI’m generally known, a sponsor will believethat he will get a return on investing in meand I am able to arrange a tour and recordthe kind of music I like. From this point ofview there’s no sense in making distinc-tions between popular and serious music.

MC Recently when I was visiting a jazzclub I realised that modern jazz hasalready become entirely the equivalent ofclassical music in complexity and length.And so it struck me that it would be possi-ble to play classical music – Beethovensonatas for example – in the club. In infor-mal clothes and a relaxed atmosphere.This kind of link up of the two spherescould work.

GD We can also learn from popular musicabout communication with the public. Peo-ple go to a classical music concert with afeeling of solemnity and a barrier arisesbetween the public and the artist. When Isuddenly actually speak to the audience, Isee the burden somehow falling from theirshoulders. That’s why I like more intimatechamber venues. One gets audiences ofthree thousand in Japan, but it’s pleasantto play for, say, a hundred people. It meansI can be conscious of every listener sepa-rately.

Looking through your earlier inter-views it’s noticeable that journalistsare sometimes more interested inyour hobbies or clothes than in themusic you play. Does this tax on pop-ularity bother you?

GD One has to be pleased to be visibleand one of the things that makes me inter-esting for the music public is the fact thatapart from playing I am also a live person.Obviously I would rather talk about music,but that doesn’t so much interest maga-zine readers. Or at least their journalistsdon’t believe that it does. If I didn’t answerthe questions, I would be overtaken by ahundred other people who might be nomore than average players, but willing toreveal anything about themselves.

czech music 6 | 2002 | event | 5

kunuk - an eskimo message

MARKÉTA DVOŘÁKOVÁ

6 | event | czech music 6 | 2002

“At the bottom of the ocean lives the Mother of Sea Crea-tures, a mythical variant of the Great Goddess of Beasts,the source and womb of all life, on whose goodwill thevery existence of the tribe depends. This means that theshaman must regularly go down under the water surfaceto renew connection with the mother of beasts.” MirceaEliade

If you weren’t at Tomáš Ondrůšek’s farm inTrstenice near Litomyšl on Thursday 5th ofSeptember 2002 shortly after midday thenyou missed a great deal. And what youmissed was the prepremiere of the produc-tion KUNUK, that magical descent to thebottom of the ocean to purify the self fromall the wrongs of the world. Kunuk is the graduation project of a studentof stage design at DAMU [Theatre Faculty ofthe Academy of Performing Arts], KristýnaTäubelová, who invited the composer OndřejAdámek and percussionist Tomáš Ondrůšekto work with her.In the project Kristýna Täubelová (1977)capitalised not only on her experience ofattending middle industrial art school inŽižkov and then specialising in woodcarvingand furniture restoration at the same school,but also on her studies in Doc. Zeithammel’ssculpture studio. The structure she has madeof wood and stretched sheepskins is aninteresting artwork in itself. Thanks to itsvariability and position on a turntable itbecomes a changing stage and also a “musi-cal instrument” into which a performer –drummer breathes life. Because the wholeproduction is based on an ancient Eskimomyth, the performer, who moves round thestructure and its changing shapes and makesit ring using not only his sticks but also hisown body, is also an actor, the character whotakes us through the story. The atmosphereof the production is much enhanced by thesurroundings (an old stone barn) and thelighting (candles in the structure giving offthe aroma of the sheep fat from which theyare made). The natural sound and textures(wood and skin) are a treat for the ears andeye of the spectators and awaken in theminstincts long suppressed by civilisation, andthe capacity to perceive what is simple, beau-tiful and natural. As mentioned, there were two musiciansinvolved in the project. Ondřej Adámek (1979) is a student of com-position at the HAMU [Musical Faculty of the

How long did you work on your gradu-ate project, what were the paths thatled to collaboration with Tomáš andOndřej, and how did the collaborationwork?

In the Summer of 2000 Tomáš Ondrůšekgave a concert in Český Krumlov. Listeningto him playing Helmut Lachenmann’s“Interieur I” I realised that the interpretationof the piece didn’t consist of just the musicalinterpretation, but involved other elementslike dance and the aesthetic impact of thepercussion set (which actually formed a kindof interior), although these emerge as a sec-ondary product of the musical interpretation.It struck me that one could work with thesesecondary products deliberately and con-sciously, in such a way that when writing thework the composer would already be reckon-ing with the movements of the performer inthe space defined by the instrument, andwould find inspiration in new sounds offeredby the artist and percussion player. (Thismeans that the artist provides a new form,material etc, while the percussion player pro-vides a new or unfamiliar way of playing theinstrument – object). The idea also appealedto Tomáš Ondrůšek and Ondřej Adámek, andso we developed the idea of a joint projectwhere we would try to put these principlesinto practice.

I was working on the project from the Springof 2001, when I formulated our idea andapplied for a grant. By January 2002 I hadgathered the materials and produced a mod-el of the structure In the course of the springand summer I then built the object at Vojnar-ka farm directly where the first performancewould be. I discussed ideas and designs with Ondřejand Tomáš throughout the year. First it wasnecessary to prepare the “instrument” – tooffer material. Only then during August 2002could the composition be produced on thebasis of exploration of the acoustic possibili-ties. We had the chance to work with theyoung director Tatyana Ayzitulova from St.Petersburg, who helped us considerable withthe conceptual structure of the whole pro-duction. The current version of the produc-tion basically emerged over one week, whenwe took all the elements making up thewhole, compared them and looked for theideal ways to link them up.

What kind of importance to you attackto the Eskimo myth. Ought the audi-ence to understand the specific story,or is it enough for you if people go

Academy of Performing Arts] in Prague inMarek Kopelent’s class and at the same timea visiting student at the Paris Conservatoire.He is well known for his work with dancersand choreographers in the CR and abroad,and he writes music for live interpreters, andelectroacoustic, stage and film music. Hefrequently provides space for improvisationin his pieces. Tomáš Ondrůšek (1964) hardly needs anintroduction - he is a multipercussionist indemand throughout the world, and his reper-toire is exclusively contemporary music. Heis a member of the AGON Orchestra and afounder and teacher of percussion at HAMUin Prague. He also holds international sum-mer courses for composers and percussion-ists in Trstěnice by Litomyšl.Kristýna Täubelová, Ondřej Adámka andTomáš Ondrůšek have together produced anappealing multimedia production that volun-tarily renounces modern technical effectsand plays on the hidden strings of the humaninterior in modest, unsensational, naturalmode. The very idea of an artist, composerand performer collaborating on the project isitself remarkable enough to justify us askinga few questions of its authors.

Kristýna, You’re the main instigatorand intellectual force behind the wholeproject, so let’s go back to the begin-ning. What actually is KUNUK and howit came into existence?

KUNUK- this name emerged when we wereformulating the project for a grant. At thatpoint we didn’t yet know which myth wewould choose from Knud Rasmussen’s bookof “Greenland Myths and Legends”, and so Iused the general term KUNUK, because thatis the short name Knud Rasmussen uses forthe Eskimos. In itself the name also containsthe motif of the circle, which accompaniesthe whole production both at the level ofideas, and action (The performer’s use ofrevolving, circular movements.)

czech music 6 | 2002 | event | 7

away with the sense that it was aboutsomething, even if they don’t quiteknow what?

The Eskimo myth is important mainly for us.It forms the material on which we drew andled us to understand the philosophy of Eski-mo culture, and to compare it with CentralEuropean culture and the environment inwhich the project developed, i.e. the naturaland human rhythms of the Czech village. Theidea was not to create an illustration of amyth, but to find universally valid principles,both in choice of materials and in the mes-sage of the story itself. To answer your ques-tion directly then – it’s enough for me ifspectators go away with the feeling that itwas about SOMETHING. I would even bepleased if not everyone went away with thesense that they knew precisely what kind ofstory it was. That way we give spectatorsspace to come away from the performance

with their own individual feelings, images andreactions.

Ondřej, obviously working with some-one from another field is nothingunusual for you (I know, for examplethat you have recently returned fromAfrica where you wrote music for a bal-let performance), but I still want to askyou whether your collaboration withKristýna was something new, interest-ing and fruitful?

Musicians don’t usually collaborate much,even though cooperation is essential for art.The normal experiences of people in theatre- daily rehearsals for two months before theopening of a new production, a joint searchand exploration involving excitement, enthu-siasm and so on, are outside the range ofordinary musical life. I enjoyed getting awayfrom my field and helping physically produce

the structure, being in constant contact withall the members of our team and engage in atruly shared creative search. It was alsoimportant staying at the farm, where I couldtry out anything at any time of day and nighton the instrument I was writing for, andwhere I could suggest and talk through anyidea immediately with Kristýna and Tomáš atany moment, and live with the project atevery moment. It’s nice to compare the dif-ferent perspectives of people from differentfields, who are nonetheless very close inviews on art and personally. The object struc-ture is also interesting for me from the visualpoint of view, which was very inspiring. Andit’s acoustically unusual and forced us tovery careful exploration of how to exploit it.

Tomáš, since the whole project (notjust the performance, but long-termpreparation) took place in your farm,you evidently had a strong interest in it

8 | festival | czech music 6 | 2002

from the beginning. You also certainlytook a share in the creation of the workitself, at the very least making surethat it remained practically possible interms of performance.

I shared in the project as a performer in theframework of ordinary cooperation thatOndřej writes about. During rehearsals andexploration of the material I discovered someunusual possibilities of the object and tech-niques for “sounding” it. This was an impor-tant experience for me, since all music cameinto being on “non-instruments” or “ur-instru-ments”. Experimenting with this acousticobject was something very close to my phi-losophy of instruments: to feel the instru-ment as material and not just its form – thefinished instrument. When I vibrate – soundthis material, – a trace of the sound justmade remains in the space. It is a visual ele-ment created whenever material is sounded.We used these traces in the KUNUK project.They were the basis for the choreographyand this then had an influence on the actionof the story. This linkup of all elements inmutual interaction was very exciting for me:movement is born from sound, gesture frommovement, action from gesture, and actionthen provoking sound.

Actually this is the first time I have worked inthis way. I became a bit of an actor, it wasn’tpossible just to go up to the instrumentcasually, since my footsteps themselves cre-ated sound and were part of the story. Work-ing with Tatyana Ayzitulova, who was primari-ly sensitive to the dramatic element of theproject, was important for me in this context.In the same way it was crucial to consult withKristýna who discussed the acoustic possi-bilities of the different parts of the object-structure with me. Her artwork said some-thing to me right at the beginning, and in col-laboration with Ondřej, who approached itwith great sensitivity, went beyond theboundary of pure visual form and acquiredacoustic form as well.

What about KUNUK in the future? Willwe have another chance to see it andhear its message?

Kristýna: We would like to present the pro-duction at Vojnarka Farm in Trstěnice by Lit-omyšl at the Open Day on the 3rd of October2002. The situation is slightly complicated bythe fact that Ondřej is going to study inFrance, I am off to Russia for more than amonth and Tomáš has a packed programmea year in advance. But we shall try to bringthe production to Prague. and we’re negoti-ating the possibility of an appearance at theinternational KukArt Festival in St. Peters-burg. On the other hand before that we haveto find some time together for rehearsals, toiron out the faults that emerged at the firstpublic performances.

There is a certain group of people who ask the same questionevery year: Will there be a Marathon this year? Although theNew Music Marathon has become a major event, giving us theopportunity to hear many important works and greatly raisingthe level of musical education in the local public, every year itslife seems to be in the balance. As yet no patron offering gen-erous and above all stable sponsorship is in sight, and thisyear the financial problems were exacerbated by the fact thatthe Archa Theatre, the usual home of the festival, had beenclosed after the summer floods. Nonetheless, even this yearthere were inspiring and interesting moments in abundance.A replacement venue was provided by the Ponec DanceTheatre, which may not have ideal acoustic conditions but isat least close to a railway track, so that the sounds of the trainsmingled tastefully with the tones of the music (in some piecesthis was not in fact distracting). The only missing element werethe traditional meetings with composers.

Egon Bondy

a festival in defiance of circumstancenew music marathon 14th - 17th november 2002

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL The number of seats occupied (the auditori-um was slightly smaller than at the Archa)was a good reflection of the interests of thepublic today. The Thursday evening offeredcontemporary classical music in its moreacademic form, but without well-knownnames – the theatre was disagreeably emp-ty. On Friday the audience was larger, boost-ed partly by the permanent following of theAgon Orchestra, and partly by people attract-ed by the block devoted to Mare Kopelent.Saturday was star-studded and the Ponecwas packed to bursting: John Zorn andSteve Reich have a decent following in theCzech Republic but their works are relativelyrarely played in concert here, and that is anideal combination. A second factor was themain star of the evening, the philosopherEgon Bondy, who appeared as a singer. TheSunday concert by Irvine Arditti, the biggestforeign star at the festival, took place in theRudolfinum Gallery among exhibits ofSocialist Realist art. The space allocated forhis appearance was full, but this still meantonly half the audience numbers of thePonec. Although Arditti is an absolutely topperformer and the piece played, LuigiNono‘s La lontananza nostalgica utopicafutura, is a major work of contemporarymusic, the combination is evidently not ahuge draw for listeners.

The End of the Avant Garde? The first course at the Thursday concertoffered pieces by Rudolf Komorous and hisCanadian pupils Christopher Butterfield,Martin Arnold and Owen Underhill, per-formed by the Slovak ensemble OperaAperta. The pieces were written in the lasttwo years and showed how the pioneer ofNew Music had turned into an academic andhow his pupils were following him. Theirmusical world has its roots somewhere in thefirst half of the Twentieth Century, and theypick and choose only very cautiously frommore recent developments. On the otherhand the music is at least written in a waythat makes for good playing, and this was

evident in the level of performance. The pieces by Pavol Szymanský, played bythe OMN chamber ensemble, might bedescribed in the same terms – they are notabout experiment, but about links with tradi-tion – but on hearing them one is immediate-ly sure that one is dealing with a creativepersonality. None of the pieces was boring,and the most interesting was the finalRecalling A Serenade, in which fragmentsreferring to musical history would appear andthen vanish again, as if the musicians weretrying to remember a serenade they hadonce played a long time ago. The third block was also taken up by Slovakperformers, this time the Veni ensemble(which overlaps with the Opera Aperta) andSlovak composers of the middle generation -Marián Lejava, Boško Milakovič, LubomírBurgr and Daniel Matej. The pieces pre-sented confirmed the impression that somecomposers are now tired of experiments andwant to write quite normal music. No particu-larly memorable experience arrived, however,and during the final pieces (and also themost experimental in terms of soundsources), Daniel Matej‘s jaune, bleue, rouge,in which sounds recorded in the course of anevening in the theatre bar were played intolong repeated notes, drowsiness was heavyin the hall.

czech music 6 | 2002 | festival | 9

Kryštof Lecian

10 | festival | czech music 6 | 2002

example and the Nostitz Quartet masteredit with sufficient panache and precision.The Untitled for solo cello, on the otherhand, was quite wearisome, although thiswas not so much the fault of KryštofLecian as that of the composer himself(does the title maybe suggest a certainhelplessness on his part?). Angelus Novusfor wind octet performed by the TuningMetronomes was not boring. Paradoxi-cally it was also the least Zornian andmore flowing. I personally particularly likedthe passage where the performers beganto play biphonically (i.e. each playing twonotes at the same time), and a minimalisti-cally rhythmatised passage emerged fromthe sounds. Steve Reich is popular in the CzechRepublic and when he cannot come herehimself, we have to use our ownresources. The combined forces of stu-dents and graduates of the Brno MusicAcademy JAMU and the Prague musicfaculty HAMU led by Marek Ivanovič andMartin Opršál had a difficult task ahead ofthem. Music for 18 Musicians (however Icounted, the number of musicians alwayscame out at nineteen) is an hour-longpiece demanding absolute precision andperfect interplay. In these respects themusicians did not fail and for the wholehour managed to maintain the rhythmicpull and almost magical effect of this Mini-malist classic. The main shortcoming wasthe sound. The keyboards used instead ofpianos had an insufficient dynamic range

Tears for solo voice without accompaniment.In Bludný hlas [Wandering Voice] on a textfrom a Sophocles tragedy she was replacedby the “real” actress Taťána Medvecká, andher performance, enhanced by film projec-tion, was in no way inferior to that of her col-league. The only purely instrumental piecewas Hudba pro pět [Music for Five].While Sigune von Osten is not very wellknown in this country and so her perform-ance was a surprise, Irvine Arditti hadalready appeared here with his quartet andhis reputation preceded him. Nono’s almosthour-long piece perhaps seemed rathershort to him (or else he was bothered byhaving to share it with Gideon Kremer, virtu-ally present on electronically modifiedrecording), since he decided to add FrancoDonatoni’s Ciglio and 6 capriccios by Sal-vator Sciarino. Both are virtuoso pieces, butalongside Nono’s opus seemed like etudes.La lontananza… works with the movementof both elements, live and pre-recorded, inspace. Arditti moved between music stands(a glimpse of the notes suggested he wasplaying straight from the manuscript), whileworkers, peasants and socialist intelligentsialooked down on him from their frames of thegallery wall – something that might havepleased Nono with his leanings towardssocialism.

Large MouthfulsSaturday evening promised to show us howyoung Czech performers coped with themusic of two American “stars” of contempo-rary music. The programme included threepieces by John Zorn and Music for 18 Musi-cians by Steve Reich. Whatever instrumentsZorn writes his music for, essentially healways works in the same way. Technical dif-ficulty, rapid cuts, occasional references tohistorical styles or popular music whichimmediately dissolve in sonic chaos. Thestring quartet Cat O‘ Nine Tails is a typical

The introduction to the Friday concert con-sisted of a block called Czech Young Bloods,in which the Agon Orchestra presented cur-rent work by young composers. OndřejAdámek, Marko Ivanovič and Ivan Achershowed that their generation needs nolonger worry about catching up with interna-tional trends. What their professors failed toteach them they have sought out for them-selves and managed to create their ownidiom. Progressive compositional proceduresand the use of electronics, for example, canno longer be classified as experiments butas an ordinary part of their musical language.In relation to Adámek’s piece Kapky, kapičky[Drops, Droplets], Ivanovič’s Protestsong andAcher’s Tance sv. Víta [Dances of St. Vitus]we can make the general comment thatwhile they have enough original sound ideas,there is an insufficiently strong unifying idea.The germ of such an idea exists in the caseof Acher in the use of extracts recorded fromthe radio and then repeated in a differentmusical context, and in the case of Ivanovičin reference to the protest songs of the Six-ties.

StarsApart from Arditti, the only figure with for-eign star at the festival was the singerSigune von Osten, the principal performerat the concert devoted to Marek Kopelent,whose works she has already been interpret-ing for some years. She was joined by theGerman ensemble Musica Temporale con-ducted by Alicja Munk. Five pieces from theperiod 1967 – 1983 presented what it isthat makes Kopelent so important for Czechmusic. Here the techniques of the NewMusic are not employed for their own sakebut are combined with a unique poetics.Sigune von Osten is not only a brilliant singerbut also a phenomenal actress, as she hadthe chance to show in the Agnus Dei and inSnehah, but above all in Black and White

Nostitz Quartet

HAMU & JAMU ensemble

and the loudness of the singing, whetherthrough the fault of the singers themselvesor the sound engineers, varied disagreeably.Nevertheless, this was a remarkable experi-ence that deserves to be repeated and wasnot even upset by the noise of the passingexpress train from Košice.

There’s No Accounting for Taste.Taste is a peculiar affair, and the end of theconcert on Saturday – the best attended –offered plenty of material for reflections onthis theme. The Maloměstský orchesterPožoň sentimentál [The Small-Town PožoňSentimenal Orchestra] (Messrs. Lenko, Bur-gr, Piaček and Buranovský – mostly from theVeni circle) presented repertoire from its CDUrban Songs, with the addition of a few oth-er pieces. The first fifteen minutes made amore agreeable impression that the record-ing and seemed to be a logical continuationof Reich’s minimalism, grafted onto Vienneseor Bratislava table music. Decompositions ofa fifth chord do not, however, provide muchexcitement if not combined with somethinghigher, which did not happen in this case.Boredom set in, as was also clear from occa-sional expressions of protest from the public. The audience was waiting for the main starof the evening, Egon Bondy, with whomPiaček and Požoň had prepared a sequencealso entitled Urban Songs. During a dramaticprelude the philosopher sat down at a table,pulled his cigarettes and ashtray from hispocket, and in his untrained but for that rea-son all the more expressive voice sang a

choice of pre-war Prague pub songs.Cvočkářem byl Danda [Danda was a Nut-case], Padla facka [It came to blows], NaPankráci [In Pankrác]. Despite ostentatiousdenigration from part of the audience Bondyturned out to be a brilliant performer whoknew what each song needed, as was partic-ularly clear from the final piece Hřbitove,hřbitove [Graveyard, Graveyard] sung acapella into a darkening hall. The public wasenthusiastic.

What was this kind of performance doing ina festival of contemporary “serious” music?Some of the audience undoubtedly askedthemselves the question and some answeredit by departing early. It is interesting that peo-ple who had endured the wild creations ofZorn and the repetitiousness of Reich shoulddecide to leave through the middle of thehall, demonstratively and noisily, during anostalgic old Prague song.

The organisers decided to hold this year‘sfestival over four days rather than the usualthree. This meant that audiences were neveras exhausted after the concerts as they hadsometimes been earlier. It also meant thatthere were none of the usual delays in thestart of individual blocks. Much of the musicthat the public absorbed was of good quality,and we can only hope that next year as wellthe Marathon will manage to overcome itsmaterial problems and celebrate its tenthanniversary.

czech music 6 | 2002 | festival | 11

Tuning Metronomes

Irvine Arditti

chrom-vanad universaland the heavenly organthe inconspicuous horologe of dreamers created by jaroslav kořánhas been here ten years

PAVEL KLUSÁK

12 | theme | czech music 6 | 2002

the sound it mad, and the principle of thehorologe was born.”The horologe is a sound installation made offound metal objects. The music is mainly cre-ated from it by drumming, which produces arange of delicate, long notes and sounds.Kaleidoscopic changes of musical motifs, inmost cases repetitive patterns, give rise toan irregularly developing structure, a kind oforder in chaos. The music is extremelydependent on quiet, acoustics, environment.Acoustic play in a resonant space is theideal. Kořán has been continuing to improve andtune the Horologe to this day by patientselection of iron bars, pegs, nails, and tinplates. For a time he worked on it togetherwith his brother Michal and a third player,Marek Šebelka: the clash and encounter offragile aliquots asked for more than twohands to take on the task of "kaleidoscopic"production of repetitive motifs. (Šebelka,1993: "And so what we took away from thecottage was a hundred and fifty kilos of use-less iron: the growth of the instrument has tobe subjected to technical and organisationalconditions – in other words, we have to beable to achieve every effect we want whenplaying and then to be able to drive it away.")Horologe as a trio played for some time onthe ambivalent stage of Czech teahouses.After a period Kořán was then left on hisown with the horologe, and it was also alonein the Šumava village of Mokřice that he pro-duced a recording: a cycle of etudes for theHorologe and its possibilities, characterisedby titles that were active verbs: "Goes","Strikes", "Plays", "Works"…Kořán’s well tempered scrap metal crossesthe industrial instrument with the restraint ofPärt or Feldman. It diverges from ethnic roots(we might say from African improvised rhyth-

“It all started in the Šumava Forest, first of alljust for the reason that there were no musi-cal instruments there”, recounted JaroslavKořán in 1993, and since then not muchabout the Horologe of Dreamers [Orlojsnivců] has changed. Percussionist and com-poser Kořán established himself as anaccompanist and improviser in projects atthe Theatre Archa where he celebrated 10years of his changeable community, the For-gotten Orchestra of the Land of Dreamers,spent some time studying in the USA, playedin the New York Knitting Factory, launchedthe Internet pages www.softbooks.cz, beganto release recordings under his own Pagodalabel, and worked with many artists andmusicians as an improviser. In keeping withhis notorious lack of pushiness, he never -outside the confines of the acoustic clubscene – made the limelight with a projectthat would most likely stand up well even atthe international level of progressive musicand is a very isolated phenomenon in theCzech context. The Horologe of Dreamers is both a musicproject and the original musical instrumentthrough which all the music is realised. Onthe Šumava Forest: “In the garage there wehave wooden beams, with long nails ham-mered into them and various things hangingon the nails. When you strike on a nail, it res-onates through the entire cottage. That fas-cinated me and I got the idea of makingsomething similar that could be moved. So Igathered sticks, hammered nails into them,and created what is known as a villagekalimba. I needed a sounding board andfound one in a polystyrene box for flowers. Iput the wood sticks across it and the soundbecame more distinct and resonant. One dayI put a long nail across in the same way andaccidentally touched it. I completely froze at

mic dance patterns) both towards successorminimalism and towards postmodern freeimprovisation, challenging not only traditionalform, but also the notion of the “one correct”use of a musical instrument. Its harmonicqualities may have some reference to thetroubled waters of meditative music, but atthe same time Horologe is a music of con-stant events. The material of the foundobjects rules out classical harmony. JaroslavK.: “There are no definitive scales on thehorologe. The different sequences differ agreat deal depending on how many bits ofiron of similar sound we have managed tofind. With the heavenly organ, for example,perhaps there’s already nearly a scale. Theheavenly organ – that’s the name for onebox. We have different names for differentparts. The Horologe of dreamers now includeGod’s Fingers, chromvanad universal, thesun, the moving clock hands, the acousticsampler, and the heavenly organ is acousti-cally the most subtle of elements of thewhole instrument. Elsewhere there are onlytwo or three notes, and at other times westrike several iron bars that sound almost atthe same pitch. These subtle differencescreate something that” Michal Kořán says:“we don’t actually understand ourselves.Which transcends us. It creates itself. It’sonly then that the force and pregnancy withwhich you strike the iron comes into play, itall sounds different. A shared mood is veryimportant for play. The decisive thing is notwhat we’ve agreed on in advance but howsensitively we react to the present moment.There’s a constant need to perceive thesound of the whole, so that you don’t startplaying for yourself. Often you don’t knowwhere the sounds are coming from. If it’sbeautiful music, that’s fine, and you thenslowly learn how to handle it.”

czech music 6 | 2002 | theme | 13

14 | event | czech music 6 | 2002

three economicaloperas

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

While the major opera houses just keep ringing the changeson established repertoire and hardly ever giving contempo-rary composers a look in, new developments are taking theirown paths. One such path could be seen on the 9th of Decem-ber at the NOD scene, part of the Roxy Club complex, whenthree operas were presented during one evening. Two wereCzech, and one American, and two were on Russian themes.All three composers were economical in terms of the lengthof their operas, numbers of performers, stage design and cos-tumes. Each opera fitted into twenty minutes and used threesingers.

Tomáš Krejčí

Markéta Dvořáková, Petr Matuszek

The original plan had been to create threeoperas on the same theme - AntonChekhov’s short story The Doctor. For hisopera Vratch [Doctor in Russian] Ivo Medektook from the story only the basic outline andcharacters: the sick child (Tomáš Krejčí), themother (Markéta Dvořáková) and the doctor(Petr Matuszek), who in the course of theaction discovers that he is himself the child’sfather. A third figure appears in the shape ofa dancer, but his wanderings about the stageseem rather unconnected to the rest of thepiece. Medek invests the tragic story of thedying child with elements of bizarre humour,for example when an adult singer climbs outof the covered children’s cot. The text (apartfrom the end) is sung in Russian. It is unclearwhether the singers sung with an obtrusively“Czech” accent on purpose, but I believe thata singer like Matuszek must be capable ofbetter pronunciation. The music, performedby members of the Ars Incognita, Marijanand DAMA DAMA ensembles, brings togeth-er the typical approaches of the last fiftyyears, underlining the impact of the actionand only at a few points lingering to play withan extract of text. A major role is accorded toelectronically processed recordings of differ-ent voices, which shift the whole thing ontothe level of a surrealist dream. The American composer Martin Hermanchose the same story for his opera The Doc-tor, and in some respects it is his work thatreveals the most obvious signs of a desire“to be like a real opera”. The singers, (Jac-queline Bobak: the mother, Paul Berkholds:the doctor, Katti Prescott-Terray: the son)perform in historical costumes and theirapproach is more traditional, with a minimumof truly dramatic action and more concentra-tion on the singing. This time it is the instru-

czech music 6 | 2002 | event | 15

Jacqueline Bobak, Paul Berkholds

mentation that is not traditional. All the parts– partly played live, partly programmed –pour out of a synthesiser (although a versionfor traditional instruments apparently existsas well), and it is in fact these syntheticsounds, offering little in the way of contrast,that are the most debatable point about theopera. In the programme notes the composercharacterises his music as post-minimalist,which means that he likes to repeat motifs,but not with the same degree of banality asPhilip Glass. Herman’s work is the most seri-ously conceived of the three operas, but thisseriousness becomes a disadvantage whenthe opera is performed beside the two Czechofferings. Miroslav Pudlák was supposed to come upwith a third version of the Chekhov short sto-ry, but in fact decided on a short story by H.C. Artmann, Ve stínu klobásy [In the Shadowof the Sausage]. It turns on an incidentinvolving a sausage-seller and his two cus-tomers, with the roles taken once again bythe threesome Matuszek, Dvořáková andKrejčí, all of whom here show their excellentacting skills to greater advantage than in thefirst piece. It is Matuszek who gets the mostopportunity, and the role of Viennese dandyevidently suits him. The music was written bythe composer for the Why Not Patternsgroup in which he himself plays. The ensem-ble operates on the various intersections ofjazz, rock and classical music, and this is thebirthplace of the music for the opera, themost individual and distinctive of the three.Artmann’s literary humour is reflected in themusic, which in places has overtones of theold dance-halls, and in other places has thesinger repeating banal phrases like a stuckrecord. All the musicians were also used asextras. The denouement of the story wasspoiled just by one failure of nerve. At the

critical moment the sausage-seller is sup-posed to mess up the dandy’s suit withmustard, but the action remained symbol-ic, perhaps because the actors wanted tospare the clothes. The genre of chamber opera has manyadvantages, Apart from the lesserdemands of staging there is the fact thattwenty minutes means much less of a risk

of boring the audience than a full-length pro-duction. The battered walls of the Roxy Clubare not exactly a typical background foropera, but if they play host to more events ofthis kind, they could become a useful coun-terweight to the dignified columns of theNational Opera of Estates Theatre.

16 | reviews | czech music 6 | 2002

theodor anzelotti: leoš janáček

Arco Diva

The recording company Winter and Winter offersmore proof that Leoš Janáček is a composer nowattracting international attention. The accordionistTeodoro Anzellotti has put together an album ofJanáček piano pieces that he has arranged for hisown instrument. The cycle Po zarostlém chodníčku[Along an Overgrown Path] is the dominatingpiece, and is complemented by Three MoravianDances and the two piano miniatures Na památku[Keepsake] and Vzpomínka [Memory]. An accor-dion version of Overgrown Path is not as distantfrom the original as it might seem, since Janáčekactually composed the cycle for harmonium andthe piano version was second in line. Supraphonhas recorded the harmonium version in the CDseries Janáček Unknown, and when you listen to ityou discover that Anzelotti’s accordion is closer tothe original sound (and so perhaps also the com-poser’s idea) that many pianists who are unable toforego the use of dynamics, pedal and attempts atoriginality of expression. Here the limited dynamicpossibilities of the accordion (like the harmonium)are actually of benefit to the music, allowing thebeauty of the pieces to stand out and the per-former to remain their voluntary servant. GenerallyAnzelotti’s approach has much in common withfolk music, which was Janáček’s principal sourceof inspiration (this is particularly striking in No. 3Pojďte s námi [Come with Us]). As I listened to thealbum I was constantly reminded of another Italianaccordionist, Gianni Coscia, who has made record-ings of Italian folk and popular songs (the album Incerca di cibo, ECM, 2000), whose interpretation isakin to Anzellotti’s. Despite the fact that the wholeCD is built on the sound of a single instrument, itcontains not a single boring moment.

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

ples upírů [the vampires’ ball]

Nederlands Blazers Ensemble:Iva Bittová, Leoš Janáček

The album Ples Upírů [The Vampires‘ Ball], origi-nally released by the Dutch Group NederlandsBlazers Ensemble and now taken over by Indies,has reached us after a two-year time lag. Thealbum is a recording of a joint concert given by theNederlands Blazers Ensemble and the Czechsinger, violinist and composer Iva Bittová. Until nowlisteners have been accustomed to hearing Bittováin smaller groups of chamber type (apart fromexceptions on the Classic album), and a fifteen-member ensemble of wind instruments with per-cussion certainly represents quite a massivesound. So large a number of musicians cannot playvery freely, and so the roles are divided. The vocalsand violin operate freely and playfully (as is usualwith Bittová) while the ensemble mainly offers osti-nato accompaniments and interludes. The arrange-ments were created by Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer,a Hungarian composer living in France. They areundoubtedly highly professional (it is clear from thestriking rhythms that Tickmayer studied composi-tion with Louis Andriessen), but one always hasthe sense that the pieces were originally createdfor a different kind of performance and soundrather heavy-handed in their new form. The choiceof pieces represents a cross-section through IvaBittová’s discography from the album Divná slečin-ka [Strange Little Miss] to the second most recenttitle Classic, and also gets up to the album Bíléinferno [White Inferno]. The piece Winds was com-posed specially for the NBE. Apart from music by Iva Bittová herself, the album

forgotten memoriesvol. 5 a 6

Jiří Durman, Miroslav Posejpalat own expense, posejpal@mbox.dkm.cz2002

The important improvisation duo series ForgottenMemories is recapitulating its activities of theEighties. Unfortunately I have no idea whetherVols. 1-4 have already been released or are still inpreparation, or how many volumes are planned forthe series. It is, however, sad that material of thiskind, albeit produced and remastered to a highquality by Miroslav Posejpal himself, has to bebrought out at the duo’s own expense on CDR, andseems unattractive to established recording com-panies. In addition to the overall name mentioned in thereview title, both disks have lengthy “subtitles”. Inthe case of Vol. 5 this is Message From The NoMan’s Land I - Song Of Mountain And Desire,while the full tile of Vol. 6 is Message From The NoMan’s Land II - Song Of The Dark Clouds, ForestAnd Oak Tree. Both are also divided into tracks – 7and 5 respectively, although these run into eachother without a break and so the whole track divi-sion is more a formal matter than anything else. Vol. 5 carries a recording from the Baroque rotun-da of the Šternberk Palace made at the end ofApril 1988. Here the two protagonists surroundedthemselves with a quantity of instruments. Apartfrom the double bass, Posejpal played on viola,while Durman concentrates on clarinet, all kinds ofpercussion (tubular bells, gongs, temple block) andrecorders. The instrument with which we usuallyassociate his name, the saxophone, does notappear at all on the CD. Song of Mountain andDesire shows not the slightest trace of the twoplayers‘ jazz experience, being a symbiosis of twogradually unfolding sound stories whose intersec-tion, enhanced by brilliant use of the naturalacoustic space, perhaps takes place to a muchgreater extent in the head of the listener than inthe conscious reactions of the musicians. The tis-sue formed by the long notes of the wind, thebright tinkling of the percussion instruments andthe short little motifs of the double bass is mostfascinating for its contemplative character, whichneither musician ever violates by a sudden inter-vention, desire for graduated effect, or the sugges-tion of ostinato. Durman and Posejpal are offeringus a slow walk through a landscape of soundwhere time has stood still and were at every stepwe become witnesses to a unique phenomenon.The CD naturally still has a few elements thatstand out more strikingly, however, above all thecrystal sound of the recorders, brilliantly set off bythe echo of the room, and Posejpal’s viola in theintroduction to the recording. The only question-able element on the album is Durman’s accordion,which is slightly out of kilter with the rest of themusic. At the mid-point of the improvisation its pen-etrating sound and rich harmonic resources threat-en to shift the effect onto a more aggressive andmore banal level. Fortunately this does not quitehappen, however, and the second, much simplerand deeper accordion passage is entirely fitting. On the second CD, recorded two weeks later in

the Smetana Theatre, the musicians were sur-rounded by perceptibly more musical instruments.Durman added alto saxophone, bass clarinet,marimba and bass drum, while Posejpal also usedharp and large gong. The resonance of the hallwas not as strong as in the rotunda, and so thesilence between the sound passages was filledwith more suspense. The music itself is more tradi-tional and more melancholy, definitely more hecticand involving the use of jazz techniques. Theseemerge best in the conclusion, when Durman’scaustic free jazz saxophone (still only in longnotes) leads a heated dialogue with a dampeningdouble-bass accompaniment. I usually have a problem with listening to record-ings of improvisation. Most of them have very littleatmosphere and give a diffuse but also self-cen-tred impression. In the case of ForgottenMemories, however, I can only offer praise andenthusiastic recommendations. This is a first rateexample of musical discipline and inventiveness. Iwould say that the music of Durman and Posejpalwas the first glimmering of the kind of music nowcultivated for example by the Forgotten Orchestraof the County of Dreamers or the sound art experi-mentalist Martin Janíček.

PETR FERENC

also includes pieces by Leoš Janáček, a composerto whom the singer has a strong affinity. Here wecan find her version of the composer’s Čekám Tě [IWait for You] for voice and saxophone and threeparts of the Cycle Po zarostlém chodníčku [Alongan Overgown Path] (nos. 7, 1 and 11), arranged forthe ensemble by the bassoonist Ronald Karten.These arrangements also sound good, althoughperhaps too melodious and idyllic, which is notquite in tune with the temperament of the rest ofthe album. Janáček’s music on the one handalmost cries out for orchestral arrangement, but onthe other there is a danger that his unique melodicideas will vanish behind orchestral play with colour.Teodoro Anzellotti album (see the following review)offers an interesting comparison.The Vampires‘ Ball is an interesting and generallyagreeable attempt to present well-known piecesby Iva Bittová in a new sound context, but it doesnot look as if this is a road that leads much further.For that we shall probably have to wait for the nextstudio title.

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

Miroslav Posejpal

A wide range of scores and partsof music by Czech composers,both contemporary authors andclassical masters.

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piano compositions: Playing with Four Hands (H 6155), Jazz Pieces (H 6329),Piano Studies (H 7239), Innocenza (H 7717)chamber music: Pictures (Pieces for flute/recorder/oboe and piano in thesimplest style, H 7495), Partita in A for Flute and Piano (H 3819), Sonata dacamera for Flute, Oboe/Violin, Cello and Harpsichord/Piano (H 3002)orchestral music: Con brio for Orchestra (H 7803)vocal music: Children’s Choruses (H 7136), Missa Vinea Crucis (H 7768), Songswith Flute (5 songs for high-pitched voice, flute and piano, H 3463), SilesianSongs op.17 (14 songs on folk poetry, H 638), The Shulamite – a cycle of songsfor medium-pitched female voice and piano on “Song of Songs” as translatedby Jaroslav Vrchlický (H 4060)books: A Journey with a Bow Tie. A book on people at and around the piano(H 4991)

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