czech music

4 | 2003 bimonthly magazine

Christopher Hogwood

Forfest 2003 Twenty Years of Agon czech music 4 | 2003

Contents 2003

Page 2 There Are Many Things to Finish An interview with Christopher Hogwood ALEŠ BŘEZINA 4

Page 4 Spiritual Art at the Forfest RADIM BAČUVČÍK

Page 10 Agon on the Road from Music, Sweet Music to Discreet Music MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

Page 14 Deconstructing Myths or How to Organise a Concert MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

Page 16 Boskovice - Exhaustion? ADAM JAVŮREK

Czech Music Czech Music is issued bimonthly by the Czech Music Information Centre with the support Information Centre, of the ministry of Culture of the , Bohuslav Martinů Foundation, Leoš Janáček Besední 3, 118 00 Praha 1, Foundation and the Czech Music Fund Czech Republic, Editor: Matěj Kratochvíl, Translation: Anna Bryson fax: ++420 2 57317424 Graphic design: Ditta Jiřičková, Photos: Petr Horník (p. 2-5), phone: ++420 2 57312422 Karel Šuster (p. 11-13, cover), Kryštof Havlice (p. 16) and archives, e-mail: [email protected] DTP: HD EDIT, Print: Tobola http://www.musica.cz ISSN 1211-0264 The subscription fee is 25 for , $ 30 for overseas countries, or respective equivalents. there are

After an interval of a year the famous English conductor Christopher The world keeps on loosening up, but many people in the music public still Hogwood arrived in once again. Over a few days here he record- have you pigeon-holed as a specialist ed a CD of Bohuslav Martinů’s ballets of 1927 with the Czech Philhar- on baroque music and classicism, even monic for Supraphon. It was just one of many Christopher Hogwood despite that fact that for years now you have been systematically devoting your- projects concerend with the music of Martinů. The first was a Martinů self to earlier 20th-century music and CD for DECCA. and the most recent were recordings with the Basel conducting combined programmes with pleasure. How do you feel about it, and Chamber Orchestra for Arte nova and the first of a CD series covering what do you think is the reason the the complete works of this composer for and orchestra. impression is so persistent?

2 | interview | czech music 4 | 2003 many things to finish

interview with christopher hogwood

ALE‚ BŘEZINA

more modern records they aren’t such a big me to all these names and gave me some proportion in about 250 discs. But I think good recordings that were helpful to me and more and more people are gradually getting also he gave me an introduction to some of the message nowadays. Today I do less and the music recorded by Ladislav Vachulka. less old music and more and more neo-classi- That gave me an idea about what the reper- cal and neo-baroque music. toire was that I would find here. And another contact I had was with Zuzana Růžičková who What fascinates you about the music of came to play at the Aldeburgh Festival in neo-classicist composers (of various England the year before I came to Prague. So kinds)? when I knew I was planning this trip I went to I think the first thing that I liked was that see her and she was very nice and said: oh, it’s made for some very interesting program- you must come and see me when you are in ming with modern instruments. Because Prague. I had been intended to come here as I cannot see any real advantage if you are a musicologist and my scholarship was to playing Händel or Corelli to use modern study at the Charles University. I was put to instruments. But if you are playing exclusively study with Milan Poštolka who was very good, Händel and Martinů or Corelli and Strawinsky and also met Petr Eben. My connection with than there is a very strong reason to use them was very one-to-one so I came to see modern instruments and show they can play Poštolka and otherwise I worked in the two styles. And the etiket, the grammar of the archives so there were not real lectures and two repertoires is very connected. So to the we spoke either in German or in English. And public it makes it a slightly didactic pro- also all the people I met here wanted to gramme, which, I think, is more valuable for speak western languages because it was me. a much more closed country than I had real- ized. I discovered that not everybody was How and why did you come to Prague in a communist, which I didn’t know, and that the 1960s and how did you react to it as a lot of them were very anxious to hear about someone coming from the free world? the West. And speaking English was a very I came 1964-1965 as a graduate scholar on useful thing. an exchange scheme organized by the British So I met the Špicka family, Daniel and Hilar Council. And to tell the truth I came to Prague and their parents. Hilar was studying musicol- because I was very late in planning my future. ogy, about the same stage to me. So we By the time I had planed it nearly every schol- became good friends. They both spoke indi- arship was finished except, I think, Czechoslo- vidual English, all their friends spoke some I really feel that it’s not my fault. It’s the fault vakia and Bulgaria or something like this. So English, Poštolka spoke very good German of two things. One is that a lot of people tend I thought maybe is just a little and good English, so there was really no need to listen to their favourite music only, so that bit closer. And also I knew a little bit about for me to become very good in the Czech lan- there is often no reason why they should have Czech music, but not a great deal. But [still in guage (which is a pity). The second thing here heard me doing the music of Stravinsky or England] one of my friends came to visit me – was that Zuzana quite independently Bartók or Martinů. On the other hand they are it was Jasper Parrott and his father Sir Cecil arranged for me to become a member of people who form their opinion out of the Parrott was Ambassador here and I spoke AMU. I could see Páleníček and people like recording catalogues and in the recording with him. He translated Švejk for example for that doing their teaching, it was extremely catalogues it’s very true, the majority of Penguin Books. He was very interested in free. Zuzana arranged for me to havw double records are early music because of my Czech music, he was collecting materials for personality, so I got one set of mensa tickets orchestra. Although there are some 15 or a biography on Dušek and Jasper introduced because I was at AMU and I got another set

czech music 4 | 2003 | interview | 3 of tickets because I was at the Charles he was already quite known for medieval Shops like the German culture centre, Russ- University. For all the time I spent in Prague music playing. So we did a little show on ian culture centre. I bought at the German I become double – I was two people! radio. It was very mutual exchange. culture centre the Neue Bach-Ausgabe to I did lot of work in the archives. The project You mentioned , jazz concerts – a knock down prices. Many scores I use still I was working on was Vaňhal, but in fact I was how did you come to like jazz and what I have bought than for almost nothing working more generally. I went to Brno and has it meant to you? because the rates of exchange were very very I went to Krumlov and to the other archives to I wasn’t interested in jazz at all. I went there preferential. look at what they have. I was working basical- only because some journalists I knew and What is the usual shape of your season ly on classical repertoire that survived. It was- people that were a little bit critical about the – is there some sort of regularity about n’t particularly keyboard music that I was situation were there. And they said: come it? working on. I wasn’t working on religious here. I in fact never really liked jazz. The It has a sort of balance between conducting music. I developed a basic interest in different atmosphere is not good to my eyes and to my and musicology. And also it has a sort of bal- people that I have realized were completely nose, because there is almost always too ance between travelling and staying at home unknown in the West – people like Koželuh, much of smoke and also the noise is a little which is in a way the same thing. At present Vejvanovský, J. J. Ryba - we went to hear his bit too much. Now I am more interested in jazz I try to make my season much more European Mass and, you know, nobody in the West has more than I was than when I was I am afraid based and less American. Now that I have heard this Mass by Ryba. The concerts were a big snob. I went to Viola out of political passed sixty I think I have finish lot of things very cheap so we went every night with Hilar interest. I have promised to publishers, editions. So who knew all the wardrobe people so we had That surprises me, because you do a lot I think I have become a more organized about a very privileged life. I learned to drink Czech of neo-classical music with jazz ele- finishing of long term projects, both books beer – I never drank beer before. So it was ments... and music that I promised to people a long a very formative year with no advance plan. I know, I came to it the other way round time ago. And now I plan to have them done But the plan came because of the three because of that neo-classical composers. before I am 65. And then if I am still alive things – reading at the University, AMU with This is how I have become much more inter- I can plan to do some more but it would be Zuzana Růžičková and than the Špicka family ested and much more civilized about jazz. silly to keep these things always waiting. because they adopted me. So I was very When I was a student I have regarded jazz as My calender tends now to be many more lucky. I have regarded Beatles, you know? As some- European orchestras and nice cities, because You’ve anticipated my next question on thing you didn’t go to. When the Beatles came I spent lot of my life working in cities, which your first friendships in Bohemia – to Cambridge we went to the cinema instead! I didn’t like. Whereas I do like Granada, I do Daniel Špička, Mrs. Eliška etc.? We didn’t go to see them because we thought like working in Denmark, I do like working in Yes it was Eliška Fučíková because she was it was extremely vulgar. Prague, I do like working in . And I decid- an art historian and she was also teaching ed that I may plan now to go to nice places to one of the other English graduates who was Why did you get so intensively involved do projects which are for those places. I am here and worked on gothic art, gothic statues. in the music of Martinů at a time when not very evangelical any more. I will choose Eliška was terrifically friendly, wonderful cook, Janáček mania was just beginning? Did Haydn and not Mozart, Händel and not Bach, living in very close circumstances. I met lot of you know friends of Martinů? Martinů and not Strawinsky, if there is architects because of Daniel Špička. I even I of course knew Janáček because of the a choice. If not I will do what is suitable for the met Václav Havel – it was at Viola. He was work of Charles Mackerras. One of the other programme. But I am interested in the less there as a jazz enthusiast. I never knew what students that came with me was Jimmy promoted people. For instance I am on the was going to happen to those people. Quite Porter who came to study Janáček. It was Board of the Terezín Foundation, lot of the a lot of painters, certainly not the official because of him that I learned a lot of early Entartete Musik programme is very interest- artists. In fact I think that many of the painters Janacek recordings by people who worked ing. I am even interested in people like I met were actually architects or sculptors, but with Janáček like Bakala. He explained to me Skalkottas who don’t a very strong press for the most were probably architects. I bought lot of the difficulties with doing the Janáček a moment, but I think he is terrific. I am always quite a lot of their pictures. I knew them from editions. looking for the less known ways. Rather then drinking with them at Trojka on the corner of I didn’t really knew Martinů when I came. My playing Schoenberg I would look for the the Old Town square, near the bridge. It used acquaintance with Martinů came mostly that arrangements that Schoenberg made of to have a wonderful man who was every time I knew about 4-5 pieces of him on record that Mahler and other for his musical evenings. sitting at the head of the group, who was I listened to before I came to Prague. When I am very interested in small groups rather exactly the man whose picture you see on I came to Prague I first went to the Prague then large groups. I like big orchestras but Myslivecká – that hunting man. quartet playing the whole series of Martinů only sometimes. And I do like large chamber We went to see quite a lot of theatre, opera, quartets. I went to the library and then to the orchestras in a social sense – you can speak and dance theatre, we went to the Tyl theatre. concerts of Czech Philharmonic doing all with them and they can speak with you We went to every interesting concert of the Martinů symphonies – this was the time of whereas with the very big orchestra nobody . So I think my musical diet was Karel Ančerl. When I came to Prague I didn’t can speak to you –too many voices. So that is bigger than anything I heard before or after- know that he wrote any opera, for example. the tendency at the moment which leads me wards. Which was a very good time to do it. I went to theatre to see Juliette and it was more to musicology. I am doing now a Men- Because all the music was almost all done by exciting and terrific. It was a wonderful pro- delssohn project for Bärenreiter. Certainly it was all within the same type of duction by Krombholc, which is on record and Mendelssohn becomes very interesting to me vocabulary. The style was very much a Czech it was a wonderful staging by Kašlík. whereas I never knew anything about him style, the attitude was very much middle Euro- From friends of MartinůI already mentioned before. And now I want to do Mendelssohn pean attitude. Old music and modern music, Páleníček. I also spoke with Zrzavý who used everywhere. So it’s a question of capturing an chorus singing and operatic singing, string to live at the castle steps. I said hello to him idea and running with it and doing what you quartets and… once or twice. But the painter I was more can both musicologicaly and practically and I used to do some translating for Křička, the interested in was Tichý. I was very intrigued by then handing it on to somebody else to do son of the composer, a very elegant man, who him because he looks so much like Miró. something more and to find a new project. ran the Supraphon records. I met Milan Mun- I knew a bit Šafránek, since I already had his Yes, working in nice places and finishing off clinger and his group, Venhoda …At Christ- biography on Martinů since the English edi- my existing projects is the essence of it. mas. David Munrow came to see me – he was tion just appeared the year before. I have a very nice office with Heather Jarman very interested to see what was happening What was very nice in 1964 were all the and two assistants there who are doing what here and they all came to talk to him because music shops with a lot of very cheap music. is called servicing, which is making the things

4 | interview | czech music 4 | 2003 I do work. But none of them are employed really for musicology. I use an assistant for each project. So I have one person who helped me to start the Mendelssohn project. I am just taking another assistant at the time because I am writing another book on Händel. I have an edition of the Fitzwilliam virginal book coming so I need an extra assistent. Each time I am looking for somebody who is already working in that area. My main edition projects are keyboard music of Henry Purcell for the Purcell Society, the Fitzwilliam virginal book for Musica Britanni- ca, a big book on the clavichord for Cam- bridge University Press. Editions which are ongoing are the Salomon arrangements of Haydn symphonies for Bärenreiter (chamber transcriptions), the Mendelssohn ouvertures project with Baerenreiter, and at the moment What does working with B. Matoušek cating a little bit. Saying: Good, that’s nice. starting with Bärenreiter things like Bizet and the Czech Philharmonic on on the I am also very helped because the engineers L’Arlesienne (the original theatre score), and comblete recordings of the works of with whom I have worked on the previous even they have a scheme to do Elgar. It Martinů for violin and orchestra mean record and also on this are very sensible. tends to be connected with the particular to you? They hear lot of staff and have good sugges- publisher. With Eulenberg’s I have two Odes. Well this was a big surprise to me because tions. By Purcell, which I am working on. With although I knew his playing from recordings You collect porcelain and musical auto- a small company HH Editions I have just I have never met him. A very nice man, I think. graphs. How did this comer about and published a book of keyboard music that He started this project running with his own why do you do it? I have the manuscripts of – 17th century money and the money of the Martinů Founda- It’s not only musical autographs. I do collect keyboard music. It’s curious that although tion in Prague – it was not a Supraphon manuscripts and old prints. This is musico- I am a keyboard player I am not doing a lot of scheme in the first place. So I worked with logical instance. I rather have the original keyboard editing which is a pity. him and he is terrific because he is such an material to something, which I would like to I am also doing the edition of the full score agreeable and modest person. The repertoire secure. So the musical side is to do with ballet La revue de cuisine for Leduc. I did the is to me all exciting because from all the scholarship. The ceramics side is because piece a lot in the version of a suite and I have pieces we are going to record on 4 I like decorative things like a lot of English found the score quite difficult and inaccu- CD’s I only knew 3 or 4. I like the idea of people. I like decorative two dimensional rate. Then I discovered through your help doing a complete set of something because things – just surface, surface design. And that there was the complete ballet in Basel - you can make a comparison to learn how the also from the point of view who is interested I have decided to give the people the choice. idiom developed. in the 18th century– we are trying to a sort So the new edition for Leduc is the whole How is your work with the Czech Phil- of discover what the music was like at older ballet but you can also use it as a suite. It is harmonic going? The Matoušek project time. Maybe we are right, maybe we are edited in a way that you can extract the suite is the first time you’ve met the orches- wrong. When you pick up a piece of ceramic from it because they are differences. So tra, professionally. decorated in 1780 - it’s perfect! Nothing has I hope that people will do the suite from Exactly. Now I see some familiar faces and changed. It’s glazed surface is fixed. So there more accurate edition but I also hope that they have their own style of working, their is nothing to experiment with. You don’t have people will play the complete ballet. And also own style of dealing with conductors. When to discover how to interpret it because that some people will treat is as a ballet and I was a student they were my favourite everything is there. It’s the alternative side of they will do a stage production or a television orchestra. I liked the sound they made when something very fixed and objective about production of the suite and the other three playing together, the easiness of it – it didn’t a period you can’t dispute. Whereas if you try pieces which we are recording this week. sound difficult or driven in a bad way. I didn’t to play music of 1780, you have many alter- I am going to see Michael Lochar from Editio feel that they were sweating. And still when natives without being sure about this, about Bärenreiter Prague because I would quite like I see those string players playing it’s still quite the way they may it liked in 1780’s. But I pick to do things like Koželuh keyboard sonatas, surprising that I don’t see any evidence that up a piece of porcelain or just an ordinary which I like very much. I used to go to visit they are hot. I think it’s the control being in dinner plate – its basic has not changed. Šetková when I was here as a student and command. Frankly it is quite clear that they Painting you see in the art gallery are all for she had all the material on Koželuh. This is could play very nicely without a conductor. very grand people with a very special taste a repertoire I would like to promote, the early They are not an orchestra, which needs and lot of money. Maybe it doesn’t represent repertoire. Stefan is great, Koželuh is a conductor – their playing make this quite normal people. Normal people bought cups great, Voříšek, Tomášek – the Eclogues – clear. But the way they are under control is and plates to eat and they kept them on their these pieces are fantastic. Dušek itself is not sympathetic and friendly. I am impressed by table for 20 or more years. So they must very well edited, nor is Dusík – they are none what they do in the repertoire I am doing with have been serious about it. It’s definitely of them very well served by editions at the them which is Martinů. Basically I am learning bourgeois taste, rather then aristocratic moment. So these are all projects. There is no from them how they play Martinů and just taste. That subject is extremely difficult, very foundation behind this and that makes a big occasionally I say something, which repre- exciting a lot of it very modern. And these difference – I am now the chairman of the sents my view on it. I think they have a very people who were buying these things were Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach edition in America natural and very experienced instinct on how also going to listen Mozart or Beethoven and and it’s quite clear that you need to have a lot to play this music. And they respond to sug- Schubert. I think it’s nice that we cannot dis- of money and good organization before you gestions very well. You suggest a gesture, cover the way they did Mozart or Beethoven get these editions going. We start publish this a phrase and everybody makes it. You don’t exactly. But we can discover the cups and year and we were working on it for nearly five have to stop and say to everybody: do this. So the dinner plates, the decorative war. years. It’s all founded by David Packard, who you could let things develop just naturally and That’s how I fill that gap. likes C. P. E. Bach. lot of rehearsing I find is just playing and indi-

czech music 4 | 2003 | interview | 5 spiritual art at the forfest

RADIM BAČUVôÍK

The fourteenth annual Forfest, a festi- ancient centre that can boast a genius loci of contemporary art with a spiritual focus". If val of contemporary art with a spiritual favourable to the spirit of art. Its superb we ask how far the festival lives up to the focus, took place in the week from the Baroque architecture, above all the Arch- adjectives in its title, we would have to 21st to the 29th of June this year in bishop’s Chateau and adjoining Under- answer that it does so to a different extent in Kroměříž. Chateau Garden, and the whole charming each case. The Forfest is indeed a truly inter- townscape are magnets for people with an national festival, and its reputation seems to As you might expect from the name, it’s the artistic sensibility, and so it is no surprise to be greater in Europe and overseas than in town of Zlín that is the capital of the Zlín find that it is a lively centre of musical educa- our republic. Every year many visitors come Region, but the region’s cultural centre is tion (there are two conservatories in to the festival from all over the world and it is without a doubt the town of Kroměříž. Unlike Kroměříž) and above all of all kinds of more not unusual to find there are more guests the regional capital, an insignificant village or less formal arts activities. Among the most from abroad than from the Czech Republic. until the beginning of the twentieth century, important is the Forfest Festival. This goes not just for the performers but for the region’s second largest town is an Forfest’s subtitle is "An international festival the composers who are featured in the pro-

Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic

6 | festival | czech music 4 | 2003 gramme. The share of home and foreign artists is practically the same at the Forfest. Although Forfest defines itself as a festival of contemporary arts in the broad sense it is in fact mainly a music event. This year the imposing exhibition of work by Californian artists called Mind Trips, which opened the festival, was the only presentation of visual art except for the exhibition of Milivoj Husák’s Drawings from a Larger Cycle. Poetry was represented simply by two autho- rial readings by Marek Toman and Roman Szpuk, drama by a play called Days Nights performed by the Prague Miriam Theatre and contemporary film solely by Petr Baran’s multimedia project Creation. The question of how far the Forfest pro- gramme presents genuinely spiritual art if one that I shall ask the reader’s forgiveness for ducking. The theme is too subtle and subjective to write about usefully here. A whole range of the works at the festival were clearly inspired by spiritual or sacred sub- jects, but as far as those with less obvious spiritual content were concerned, I leave defence of their inclusion to the organisers of the Forfest, namely the Kroměříž Arts Ini- tiative run by the husband and wife team Michal Kaňák Zdenka and Václav Vaculovič.

Forfest for Composers Forfest is not just a primarily musical festival, potential to speak to a larger audience that has already been mentioned. They also sang but very definitely a festival of composers is usually resistant to contemporary music In morte del eccellentissimo Monteverde by and premieres. Every year it features several and to do so without cheap effects. It will Miloš Štědroň and Three Madrigals by Jan world and Czech first performances of works certainly be interesting to watch this com- Hanuš, and overall it seems that contempo- by composers from at home and abroad. This poser in future. rary music is their special domain. While in year’s Forfest was no exception. Just the The organisers scored a great success in contemporary music and in the Gregorian opening concert brought a whole harvest of ensuring that most of the composers whose chant Salve Regina or the organum Primo premieres: works by the American com- work was presented at the festival were tempore the quartet sounded very convinc- posers William Toutant and Daniel Kessner actually there in person. Not only the com- ing, in the Renaissance pieces they adopted (Hommage of Orlando Lasso and River of posers already mentioned, but also, for a tone very similar to that of the Janáček Time respectively), Déjá Vu by the Rumanian example, the British composer David Male Choirs on their CD and so were a great composer Liviu Marinescu and a shortened Matthews, who brought his composition , the deal less distinctive, while not actually disap- version of Pavel Zemek’s Second Symphony Flaying of Marsyas, inspired by a visit to the pointing. "the Passion". The opening concert was also Kroměříž Archbishop’s Chateau where he On the subject of brilliant performers, we the only symphonic concert and enjoyed the saw Titian’s picture of Apollo Punishing should certainly mention the British ensem- largest audience. The Zlín Bohuslav Martinů Marsyas and decided to give it musical ble, The Fibonacci Sequence, which apart Philharmonic conducted by Milan Kaňák expression. Other composer celebrities at from presenting David Matthews Flaying of gave a very respectable performance, and in the festival included Antonín Tučapský, Marsyas premiered the Brno composer the Zemek symphony it was joined by an whose musical profile was presented by the Jaroslav Šťastný’s Fibonacci fantasias (with- imposing octet of soloists and the combined Kroměříž Moravian Madrigalists conducted out Titian), written specially for them and for forces of the Kroměříž Moravian Madrigalists by Radek Dočkal at the final concert, Alois their concert at the Forfest. In Šťastný’s tim- and the Brno Ambrosian Choir. The other Piňos, with two pieces performed by the bre jeux d’esprit with their aliquot tones and particularly impressive item on the pro- male vocal quintet QVox at the launch of the in the virtuoso passages in Matthews’ pieces gramme was River of Time by the Forfest’s opening exhibition, Rudolf Růžička, who pre- the with oboist gave an unusu- permanent guest composer Daniel Kessner. sented his electro-acoustic compositions by ally precise performance, perfectly mastered It showed an immense sense of musical himself and in combination with a film by in terms of expression. dynamics and melody with such a strong Petr Baran, and Richard Mayer, who draws Visitors to two concerts on two successive appeal to the audience that one might even inspiration for his music from several stays in days given by the cellist Werner Taube and call it pan-European. Iceland. The line-up of composer profiles the pianists Renata and Milan Bialos respec- The concert featuring the works of František was completed by a cross-section of the tively had an opportunity to hear just how dif- Fiala offered an experience of a quite differ- work of the late Jan Novák, who was forced ferent the principles of contemporary music ent kind. A composer who is also director of into exile against his will. and approaches to its performance can be. the Kroměříž Conservatory, Fiala manages to While the German cellist performed very combine a progressive very modern spirit Forfest for Performers avant-garde pieces that placed huge with great musical openness. With his Apart from meeting contemporary com- demands on listeners, the father and daugh- extraordinary inexhaustible melodic invention posers, Forfest festival-goers encountered a ter Bialas duo had chosen music with rather and immense musical imagination his music while range of brilliant performers, whether more immediate listener appeal. There need is highly evocative and at the same time soloists or ensembles. be no odious comparisons of skill, of course, accessible, making the him this year’s For- The Qvox male vocal quartet and its interpre- since all the musicians concerned are truly fest discovery. Fiala’s music evidently has the tation of Piňos’s Psalm 71 and Invocation excellent. On the other hand, Werner Tabe

czech music 4 | 2003 | festival | 7 was wholly absorbed in his music and quite unconcerned as to whether the listeners were coping with it (and it should be added that most of them only started to get the idea when the Forfest organiser Zdenka Vac- ulovičová in her accompanying commentary started spontaneously to talk about the images that Taube’s music conjured up in her mind), while the Bialas duo allowed clapping after every piece and for unknown reasons always kept back in the wings for a time while the audience had to wait. Pavel Blatný made a contribution to the latter concert not so much with his commentary, which he might have done better to have with him on paper, but much more with his Water Music using elements of his own arrangement of Erben ballads, which in terms of invention and evocative mood were many times more impressive than the other pieces played. From the performance point of view the high point of the Forfest was probably the concert given by the young Spanish pianist Ricard William Feasley, Pavel Ciboch Descalz. He played the Czech premieres of

Quartet performed by the Corona Ensemble, in which the three students mentioned play; it is a piece that lasts for nearly an hour and a half using only one gradually varied motif and it is based on the denial of the percep- tion of time. The last event from this kind of experimental barrel was the appearance of the Kojetín Industrial Philharmonic conduct- ed by Petr Samlík and a presentation of his proposal for principles of industrial notation.

Multigenre Forfest As has been pointed out, despite the pro- claimed inter-disciplinary nature of the festi- val, the Forfest remains largely a music event. The most interesting item from the other arts fields was the exhibition Mind Trips – An exploration of inner space put together from the works of artists in South- ern California by curator Louise Lewis. The exhibition title is taken from New Age vocab- Werner Taube ulary and presents the intimate reactions of artists to the contemporary world, in which everything is subordinated to financial inter- pieces by Jesús Rueda, Sofia Gubaidulina cert called Between the Years 1953 - 73, at ests and media monopolies. This year film and other composers with immense southern which recordings of music written by Jan was represented by a multimedia project temperament and a virtuoso bravura that Hanuš, Roman Berger and Miroslav Kabeláč from the photographer and artist Petr Baran. brought out the great colour of the music. It in the years mentioned were played in a Entitled Creation, it is inspired by the Book is only to be regretted that the American gui- Gothic church. Paradoxically, it turned out of Genesis and interestingly combines film tarist William Feasley, who gave a recital the that while a recording of orchestral music shots with the electro-acoustic music of night after Descalz, had not devoted more was inadequate in such a setting, electro- Rudolf Růžička. The theatre performance of attention to getting on the same musical acoustic music – in this case Roman Berg- the Prague Miriam company, Days of Night – wavelength with Pavel Ciboch, his partner in er’s Epitaph for Nicholas Copernicus – the last months of St. Teresa of Lisieux, was several duets. Their lack of common rhythm worked interestingly well, since by its nature included in the Forfest programme mainly was in places disturbingly obvious and rather it absorbs and can even be enriched by the thanks to the music of Martin Dohnal, in this undermined the impression not just of sounds floating in from the street or the case close to song-writing. The play itself Feasley’s solo play, but of the whole evening. birds singing in the church tower. Another slightly lacked dramatic development and intriguing item was a recording of work by conflict, since it turned only on St. Teresa’s Forfest for Experiment the composers association of HAMU stu- expression of acceptance of death as the It is of course walking on thin ice to talk of dents known as Konvergence, i.e. Tomá_ Pál- culmination of illness and her faith in the any one element in the Forfest as experimen- ka, Roman Pallas and Ondřej Štochl, whose love of Christ. tal since from a certain point of view all con- music was highly stimulating and provoked a temporary music has a somewhat experimen- lively discussion among those present. tal character. Nonetheless, there was some- Again, there were very contradictory reac- Colloquium thing interestingly experimental about a con- tions to Morthon Feldman’s Piano and String As part of the festival there was also a week-

8 | festival | czech music 4 | 2003 Forfest Puts the Emphasis on the Individual Testimony of the Composer

long academic colloquium on the theme of Zdenka and Václav Vaculovič are the els, and that is why we’ve started a colloqui- Spritual Currents in Contemporary Art. Invit- husband and wife team that has head- um, which every two years provides space ed speakers presented different aspects of ed the Forfest’s organisational com- for the opinions and visions of leading musi- spirituality in contemporary music, art and mittee since the festival’s birth four- cologists and art historians from this country theatre. It is a pity that much of the colloqui- teen years ago. The future paths that and abroad. There is no answer to your ques- um was not chaired or directed in any way, might be taken not just by the Forfest tion that would fit into one paragraph in a and so many questions were ignored or left but by contemporary music in general magazine… hanging in the air. Probably the liveliest in the future are the subject of this response was provoked by Libor Mathauser interview. Although the Forfest also involves from the Rosa publishing house with her visual art and poetry, it remains above comments on the question of spirituality in What do you see as the greatest suc- all a music festival. Do you intend to non-classical music. cess of this year’s Forfest? And what didn’t work so well, what caused you Spiritual Forfest problems? Having mentioned the colloquium let us It would probably be impossible to imagine a return once more to the question of spiritual- festival of contemporary art without prob- ity in art. Although many different opinions lems, Usually there are so many that we were voiced on the theme and all the works don’t even want to talk about them... So I presented had something to do with it, no prefer to talk about the good sides, and the clear answer crystallised in response to the performance of Zemek’s 2nd Symphony "the question of how that spirituality might be Passion" was – you could say – a satisfac- defined. Many sides of spirituality were pre- tion not just for the composer but for us as sented, but it turned out that where spirituali- well. Of course, with such a monumental ty is too obviously striven for and fore- work, which in its uncut form represents grounded, it may even disappear, while ninety minutes of music for large orchestra, appearing in most powerful form in places choir and soloists, you could hardly expect where few would ever expect it. A composer there to be no problems at all putting it on, can use a liturgical text and set it to music, but all the performers and listeners felt that but that doesn’t make the resulting work it was a great idea, and that’s no small spiritual unless the inspiration has been achievement. Kojetín Industrial Philharmonic internalised and experienced. Conversely, it can be astonishing to discover the depths Forfest is characterised as a festival of contained in a music that seems as if it must contemporary art with a spiritual focus. carry on giving priority to the music be a priori cold and void of feeling, for exam- But from a certain perspective any kind element, or will you be trying to give ple the music created from computer gener- of artistic work is spiritual, if it springs the other fields of the arts a more bal- ated and modified sounds, as demonstrated up from the spirit of the author... How anced share in the event? in the work of Rudolf Růžička. would you define spirituality in art and Today it’s also a financial question, since a There is no alternative but to leave the iden- what are your criteria, from this point good exhibition, with good advertising, costs tification of spirituality in art to the subjective of view, for the choice of works for the at least 2-300 000 crowns. Also taking into feelings of each individual, since one person festival? account the well-known inflexibility of fine can perceive great spirituality where another You’re right. Every creation arising from the arts funds and the „caution" of curators, it finds it entirely lacking. We can adduce a spirit can be considered spiritual, but con- seems to us that the music festival model is thousand arguments for why we see or don’t temporary art is dominated by anything but really more feasible for the moment. Interna- see spirituality in a work of art, but no one the spirit. Of course we don’t want to play at tionally speaking, the music world is linking can guarantee that anyone else will share being referees who "unerringly" separate the up much faster, all kinds of things are dis- our feelings. This is because spirituality per- wheat from the chaff. To put it a little frivo- cussed, and the position of the composer haps does not even reside in art or a work of lously, our activities might be better charac- isn’t determined by the incredible caste sys- art in itself. Spirituality is in the people who terised by paraphrasing the famous voice tem that prevails in the art world especially in create it and receive it, and it is questionable crying in the wilderness "Prepare ye a way this country. On the other hand, in the history whether it is at all possible to transmit for an art that has not yet lost content and of art the linking-up of different disciplines knowledge of spirituality, to point at it and to meaning". It is in this spirit that we praise has always been enriching for all of them, define it without ambiguity. and encourage every author who doesn’t and that is a direction we want to move in.... want to contribute to the general devastation of human values. But back to your question: Unlike last year, this year there was no naturally the problem has many different lev- opera. Was its replacement this year

czech music 4 | 2003 | interview | 9 with a play deliberate or is it difficult to dimension from the very beginning. And After a week they don’t interest anyone at all find a good quality opera production? that’s no easy matter, as I’m sure you can at home or abroad. But Shostakovich’s The Forfest is first and foremost a com- imagine. Seventh Symphony flew round the whole posers‘ festival. In recent years the operas world in an incredibly short time after it was Coronide by Vít Zouhar and Endymio by The prestige of the festival has been written and every time it has been performed Tomáš Hanzlík have appeared on the pro- growing from year to year. Have you since then it has been a major event. What gramme as particular kinds of innovative thought of prolonging it or expanding does it matter that it is for a supposedly neg- development in music. Similarly, this year’s it to include other towns? ligible percent of the public? Genuine art is "deviation" into spoken drama was a deci- In fact this year we held the exhibition of interesting even after centuries – that is how sion based on the fact that the play in ques- works by Californian artists, Mind Trips, in the the optimistic conclusion should sound more tion had music by Martin Dohnal. Our primary chateau in nearby Chropyň, which is part of ot less. We are well aware that the television concern was to follow the line of the middle the Kroměříž Museum Complex. The local programme planners are giving themselves generation of Czech composers. Our having town hall was very forthcoming and so the headaches night and day over today’s operas is therefore a matter of exceptions – collaboration was a pleasant experience and depressing reality. How can the chain of all we leave systematic mapping of this area to shows the possibility of further projects in possible dependences be broken? Does the others. future years. The participation of the Zlín consumerist majority really have the right to Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic in the open- push the cultural minority to the margins of At the colloquium there was talk of the ing concert is a sign that future premiere broadcasting time? And looked at from the spiritual element in non-classical concerts could be held in Zlín as well. Here point of view of decades maybe the minority music. What is your attitude to the pos- we could also mention the rather curious of today is not such a minority, because what sibility of extending the musical range offer we have received from Mr. Theodore remains as generations pass is neither foot- of the Forfest and for example present- Wiprud of New York, who suggests that his ball nor pop music ing alternative or jazz ensembles that festival of spiritually orientated music, have an accent on spirituality in their Beyond Words, could play host to some For- Many world class composers and per- music? fest concerts in America. formers have been coming to the For- Today the term "alternative" includes almost Generally it seems to be the case that any- fest for more than a decade. In your anything you can think of. It’s an area in one who thinks and plans in more than pure- view where is contemporary music which you can find plenty of marvellous and ly regional terms sooner or later has to start moving today? In the last decade do inspired music, but also plenty of toothless considering co-operation between more than you think there have been signs of any music as well. Even so-called "relaxation one town or country. The possibilities could general trend, for example to a new music", with its very obvious commercial be fantastic - who wouldn’t be interested in wave of minimalism, regional inspira- subject, flirts with spirituality – so how can something like that? On the other hand, tions of a return or tonality? Or has one get one’s bearings? Obviously the exist- looking at several mega-projects in Western creation become an entirely individu- ing labels aren’t much help here. We need to Europe based on the same principle, we’ve alised matter? Would you say that take a case-by-case approach. In the course noticed that they often doesn’t work. Ideas there is a more pronounced spiritual of the years we’ve had groups here from the can be transmitted, but they can’t be blown element in contemporary serious MCH Band to DAMA DAMA or AGON, and up like airbeds. Our primary concern is not music today than there was a decade soloists like Iva Bittová and Jessicy Karraker the prestige of the event, but just putting ago? from the USA. And for example we should across a diametrically different view of con- Your questions, which are all very complicat- like to invite Ensemble Jouissance from Aus- temporary art. Large concerns are self-con- ed, also contain a ready answer. Yes, tralia, Aleph from , the British Hilliard gratulatory and pay no attention to the quiet although these returns testify to a tenacious Ensemble – the list would be a long one and whisper of the muses. In contrast, however, search; 21st-century man urgently needs there’s no need to weary readers. We don’t contemporary arts projects would immedi- something, lacks something, and his hunger think this area of contemporary music can ately collapse if dependent only on local has the proverbial hundred heads. We are reproach us for ignoring it. sources of support. It is quite clear that inter- evidently the witnesses of a turning point, a As far as Jazz is concerned, that first needs national link-up is essential and the direction period in which the borders of time, space, some definition of terms. For example Emil of the future, and by the way it is already the styles and genres are all breaking down. In Viklický’s career leaves us wondering what only argument that all the funds, local the concept behind our festival it is the com- jazz actually still is today. In principle of authorities or ministries listen to everywhere poser who has the key position. Emphasis on course we’ve nothing against jazz, but we in Europe. Practice has taught us how to the entirely particular individual personality, want to prevent a certain commercialisation economise, and we are beginning to have an truly authentic testimony free of media pres- of the festival. inkling of how such a thing might work with- sures and tendentious distortions necessari- out the unnecessary bureaucratic ballast... ly reveals the spiritual "reverse face" of con- At this years Forfest a recording of the temporary art. student composers’ group from AMU The problem of contemporary serious As far as your last question is concerned, known as Konvergence was a great music is the very limited response it one certainly can’t ignore the enormous success. Have you considered giving gets from the public. What in your view growth in spiritual themes. Of course, one more space to students and graduates could music do to succeed against the can ask whether the interest wasn’t in fact of the academies and conservatories, competition of the lighter muses and there before, and hasn’t only come to light as including the Kroměříž schools, and given the media pressures? a result of the more rapid communications of perhaps opening workshops for the One might have an interesting argument contemporary globalisation. But you will find musical public and for composers who about what it is really is today that gets pub- hidden or open allusions to the spiritual are not yet established? lic response. And is the indifference of the practically everywhere. And so this hunger Together with Andreas Kröper and Vítek broader public a problem for people who for something else will certainly grow.... Zouhar we’re thinking of holding simultane- honour good art? If tens of thousands of ous composing and performance courses fans come to a stadium to see a football or focused on contemporary music. The orien- music star, then the television population of tation of the festival could give such courses the country is interested for a few short min- the necessary distinctive identity, but for a utes. And let us not be mistaken – such phe- project like that to survive given the huge nomena have one interesting characteristic competition, it has to have an international – they are not linked up in time or space.

10 | interview | czech music 4 | 2003 agon ______on the road from music, sweet music to discreet music

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

This year the Agon Orchestra is celebrating its twentieth anniversary – or not, depending on how you look at it. If you were being pedantic, you could point out that the group only started to perform under the name Agon in January eighteen years ago, but in fact it had first appeared two years before on the 24th of January 1985 in the Prague City Library. The twenty years of its real existence have seen huge changes: Agon has lost its founders and attracted audiences both at home and abroad, and a group that couldn’t function officially in the Eighties is now engaged in the produc- tion of a National Theatre opera.

Student Beginnings Havel. From 1984 Petr Kofroň was gaps to be filled. A major part of Czech The Concert of Minimal Music held on involved, first as a composer, but grad- premieres went precisely to the Mini- the 12th of April 1983 in the Museum of ually more and more as a conductor. In malists. Philip Glass (Strung Out), Bedřich Smetana was an event con- 1987 Ivan Bierhanzl began to play with Steve Reich (Violin Phase) and Terry ceived by two composition students, the ensemble and gradually took on Riley (In C) were only known from Martin Smolka and Miroslav Pudlák, the role of organising spirit of the recordings and live performances were who were fascinated by a music so group. In 1991 the founders of Agon a reliable audience draw, This was also unlike the content of their curriculum presided over the birth of the Society true of other representatives of the at school. Few people in this country, for New Music, which among its other American avant-garde (Cage, Feldman) composers included, had any clear idea achievements can today boast its tenth and of European New Music (Scelsi, what was really meant by the term annual Marathon of New Music. There Berio). Certain Czech composers of the "Minimal Music". The student string was once a rumour that rockers older generation also found their orchestra augmented by other musi- brought the philosopher Egon Bondy place. Jan Klusák and Marek Kopelent cians was at this point conducted by to Agon. According to Miroslav Pudlák had been the alternative to the official Ondřej Kukal. Thus Minimalism left its it wasn’t true, since in the cultural vac- line and for the younger generation mark on Agon even in its prenatal uum of the time people were active in they represented teachers in both an phase of existence and in later years seeking out interesting music. indirect and sometimes a literal sense too was an important element of its (this was particularly the case with repertoire. In the first years Agon Musical Enlightenment Kopelent). Striking figures from the almost exclusively played pieces by its In the Eighties and Early Nineties it Sixties were also discovered, such as two initiators, and occasionally their wasn’t hard to put together interesting Josef Berg, Zbyněk Vostřák, Rudolf similarly orientated colleagues Pavel programmes. The public was hungry Komorous. Kalina, Vítězslav Janda and Vojtěch for everything and there were plenty of In the early Nineties the need to fill in

czech music 4 | 2003 | history | 11 Young Academics, Old Rockers "The climax of this period was obvi- ously our appearance at BANG ON A CAN in New York in the spring of 1995. It was the definitive rebirth of the band into something peculiarly rock." (Petr Kofroň). Although they came out of academic classical music, Agon always had an affinity to the rock scene. This kind of gravitational attraction was wholly natural in a group which includ- ed many members with a rock past or present. The double bassist and bass guitarist Ivan Bierhanzl currently plays in Plastic People of the Universe, while Miroslav Šimáček, guitarist and composer, was a member of the groups Expanze and Kilhets in the Seventies. From the beginning Agon also shared a public with the Rock underground, a fact that didn’t change when the underground came out from underground. There was a link up on the composing side, as well. On the 20th of April 1993, for example, Exo- dus by Mikoláš Chadima and Tři písně k meditaci [Three Songs for Medita- the gaps led to the creation of thematic it will actually be released. tion] by Oldřich Janota were per- Počátky dodekafonie a cycles, such as Agon became known to a rather wider formed at the House at the Stone Bell. mikrointervalové hudby [The Begin- audence in 2000 with the production of Other similarly orientated foreign nings of Dodecaphony and Micro-Inter- Philip Glass’s opera The Fall of the composers were also progressively Počátky České Nové val Music], and House of Usher at the State Opera, included in Agon concerts. Behind the hudby [The Beginnings of Czech New although the orchestra had already the Bang on a Can festival mentioned Music]. These cycles were followed up played the opera in concert form in above there was a group of composers Česká nová hudba 60. let by two CDs: 1996. At present final rehearsals are – Michael Gordon, David Lang and [Czech New Music of the 60s] (1994) underway for the premiere of another Julia Wolfe – whose way of linking up Grafické partitury a koncepty and Glass opera, Beauty and the Beast. genres proved an inspiration for Agon. [Graphic Scores and Concepts] (1996). Since 1993 the Marathon of New Music In the later Nineties the Agon pro- The second title in particular was an has been held annually under the aegis gramme also came to include the oth- exceptional achievement, It was of the Society for New Music, with er New York "Down Town" composers released to go with a book that Agon always getting plenty of the spot- John Zorn and Elliot Sharp, both fig- described the realisation of the pieces light. Thanks to this festival the Czech ures who cut across frontiers in music, and offered the score. The composers public has had the chance to see many while Europe was represented by involved included Milan Grygar, performers of contemporary serious Heiner Goebbels, who had also origi- Anesthis Logothetis, and music from traditional chamber bodies nally come out of alternative rock. even Milan Knížák. like the Silesian String Quartet to the This inclination to fusion was one rea- From 1990 to 1998 Agon released five electronic/noise improvisations of son for the departure of the founding CDs. The first with pieces by Pudlák Elliot Sharp. fathers". In 1995 Miroslav Pudlák and (Otisky [Imprints]), Smolka (Hudba, hudbička [Music, Sweet Music]), Kofroň (Alfa a Kentaur [Alpha and Cen- taur]) and Adamík (Tance labilní a nepravděpodobné [Unstable and Unlikely Dances]), summarised the ini- tial phase of its development. The first two CDs were published by Arta, and the Audio Ego company was set up to publish the others, but releasing CDs at the group’s own expense proved too costly and sponsors and grants were not forthcoming. The album Red and Black was therefore put together from previous concert recordings (Kofroň, Smolka, Šimáček, Graham). In 2001 Indies together with the Archa Theatre published the CD of AGON with Filip Topol. The material has already been recorded for a profile CD featuring Petr Kofroň (planned as 3 CDs) and a recording of Anesthis Logothetis’s bal- let Odysseia, although no one knows if

12 | history | czech music 4 | 2003 the clarinettist Kamil Doležal founded the Mondschein ensemble, which plays the music of its authors, and also con- temporary music conceived (if one can risk the word) in a more traditional way, this forming a counterweight to Agon. (Ultimately, however, even these "conservatives" felt the need for some- thing else and created the group Why Not Patterns, linking jazz, rock. com- posed and improvised music.) In 1998, after the release of a CD of his pieces, Martin Smolka also left Agon. In 2000 a concert was held in the Archa Theatre at which Agon alternated with the rock group Psí vojáci [Dog Soldiers] and at the end Filip Topol sung the song Kruhy [Crosses] in an orchestral arrangement by Petr Kofroň. A year later a whole concert pro- gramme of these arrangements had been put together, later a CD. The ini- tiative for the collaboration came from Ondřej Hrab, the director of the Archa Theatre. At the end of 2002 Agon joined with a partner again, this time the Plastic People of the Universe. The story goes that it was the eccentric Jaz Coleman who first showed interest in an orchestral version of the music of this legend of the Czech Undergound, just as he had previously picked up on the songs of Čechomor, but the Plastic People had abandoned the project after differences of opinion on the form it should take. Since the project was still in the air, however, Agon, with personal ties to the Plastic People, took it up instead. The result was a per- formance at the Roxy Club, with the arrangements signed by Michal Nejtek. At the Prague Spring Agon joined the Pražský Výběr rock band in "third of all things rock", with a programme of Frank Zappa’s music. An appearance with Blixa Bargeld, the head of the industrial band Einstürzende Neubaut- en in an arrangement of one of their oldest songs, was an interesting inter- mezzo. The joining of genres aroused great hopes when it was proclaimed, but graduates of the Music Faculty of the Kofroň (H. R. S.), Zbyněk Vostřák reactions to the music were mixed. A Academy of Performing Arts (HAMU), (Trias) and Ivan Acher (Sur la terre, …), certain sloppiness of performance they too had affinities with all kinds of all augmented by electronic sounds could be detected both at concerts and "non-serious" music, Acher as a singer and moduloations of the sound of on a CD with Filipem Topol. This may in the VRRM band (with Vladimír acoustic instruments. The adaptation be a feature that belongs to rock, but Václavek), Nejtek as a member of the of Eno’s music raises new parallels in Kofroň’s arrangements (e.g. Razors fusion group Why Not Patterns (with with Bang on a Can. In 1997 they [Žiletky]) lack of rhythmical precision Miroslav Pudlák and Kamil Dolečal). arranged (and later also played in had a disruptive effect. The concert On the other hand they take sound and Prague) his Music for Airports. The with the Plastic People was under- energy, rather than simplicity, from the originally announced participation of a mined by bad amplification, thanks to rock scene. DJ came to nothing, since nobody which Michal Nejtek’s ideas could only In June 2003 striking red posters went could be found on the Czech dance be identified in the quiet passages. But up all over Prague bearing the face of scene who would be capable of this this performance is to be reprised sev- Brian Eno, a synonym for sound experi- kind of collaboration. Ivan Acher there- eral times in the Autumn, so there’s a ments and arguable the father of ambi- fore manned the samplers and effects. chance for rehabilitation. ent. Michal Nejtek and Petr Kofroň Nor did electronics do any harm to old- Discreet Music At the turn of the century Michal divided up Eno’s of er pieces by Kofroň and Vostřák. It Nejtek, together with Marko Ivanovič 1979 and arranged it for chamber doesn’t look as though this potential and Ivan Acher brought "new blood" orchestra and electronics. The pro- line of Agon’s development is any kind into the Agon composers‘ circle. Fresh gramme also included pieces by Petr of blind alley.

czech music 4 | 2003 | history | 13 de___constructing myths or how to organise a concert

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL

arranged three songs and two incipits from Contemporary serious music (the phrase has not yet lost all the Manuscipts and entrusted the perform- ance to tha Schola Gregoriana. The soprano meaning) is written for a very specific, narrow public that is Irena Houkalová joined them for one song. becoming ever more specific and narrow as time goes by. This At the time when doubts began to be voiced is reflected in the fact that its concert presentations ever more about the authenticity of the Manuscripts some 19th-century patriots claimed that frequently take chamber form, and works for larger-scale even if they didn’t really have the patina of ensembles have no chance except at festivals. It is a natural the centuries, they would still be works of poetic genius. One can speculate that the development that isn’t hard to understand. But in the Czech composer shares the view. Forgeries defi- context it is as if the narrowness of the public has become an nitely isn’t some squaring of accounts with excuse for a lack of imagination and commitment on the part the forged past, but more a new approach to the poetic images that inspired Jirásek and of organisers. And when neither the broad, nor even the so- Smetana. But of course it is informed by the called professional musical public even gets to hear of a forth- ironically amused view that is also the reac- tion of the modern reader to the sound and coming concert, then naturally the resulting public becomes turns of phrase of Old Czech (or the forgers‘ even narrower than it need be. The same limited circle of faces Hanka and Linda’s idea of Old Czech). Each appear in the auditoria, all of them known to each other. What part of the piece is built on a strong idea and none are so long that the idea becomes stale is more, the halls where the concerts take place are not venues or overused. The intermezza between the with attractive or interesting atmosphere. songs are called "incipits" and accordingly "cut off" halfway through. The music was written specially for the singers of Schola and with their typical singing style in mind. Compared to the choir the performance of In this dismal context, the concert held in the mausoleum of the communist leader the Soprano did not strike one as bad, but the Monument on Vítkov Hill was a promising Klement Gottwald, and the younger genera- definitely as less expressive. ray of light. The posters with the huge silhou- tion as a bizarre object on the city skyline, The interval, used to shift the relative posi- ette of Jan Žižka on his horse were to be and usually closed. The choice of theme of tions of podium and auditorium, was followed seen all over Prague and definitely helped to the works on the programme fitted in well by Michal Rataj’s Vítkov Oratorio. It had ensure that the two reprises of the Dekon- with the historical ambiguity of the setting. been created by expanding an originally strukce [Deconstruction] project were not Although its purpose is secular, the monu- purely electronic composition and it decon- played to an empty hall. ment is conceived as a gigantic church and structs the text of the psalm, Lord, Have The civic association SHOCK was founded is therefore acoustically ideal for medieval Mercy Upon Us [Hospodine, pomiluj ny]. The by young composers and musicologists to unison singing. Schola Gregoriana Pragen- new version involves not only electronics but support contemporary music. They already sis opened the concert with chants dedicat- once again the Schola Gregoriana and Irena have several concerts to their credit and are ed to Bohemian saints. The contrast Houkalová, and also the chamber group Tun- currently setting up an Internet portal to pro- between the unison melody sung first by ing Metronomes (with a relatively large num- vide information and a platform for discus- three and then by six singers was suddenly ber of their musicians) and organ played by sion. Miroslav Srnka and Michal Rataj, two of more powerful than instrumental magic in an Lukáš Vendl. Rataj has been composing the SHOCK composers, presented their orchestra. For his piece Podvrhy [Forgeries] electronic music for some time now and the pieces on Vítkov. Miroslav Srnka had chosen texts with the electronic form of his oratorio shows the The Vítkov monument is a building with a same peculiar atmosphere as the Vítkov interesting way he manages to combine the curious history. The idea for its construction Monument itself. The forged Zelenohorský human voice with electronic rushes into a was born at the end of the 19th century, it and Královédvorský Manuscripts (supposedly homogenous and effective composition. At was built between the two world wars as a ancient Czech epics) were for almost a cen- the concert this part was reproduced monument to Hussites and legionaries, but tury a source of national pride, only to quadrophonically; the sound flew around the the middle and older generations know it as become a source of national disgrace. Srnka audience in all directions, creating a really

14 | event | czech music 4 | 2003 Tuning Metronomes

strong effect in the ghostly space of the for- mer mausoleum. The acoustic part of the oratorio also worked with the space, with the entry of the organ striking the audience in the back, and the Schola singing in different parts of the hall. As a whole, however, the piece was not so powerful. The instrumental- ist and singing parts seemed to be too het- erogeneous and refused to cohere into a single whole. Long passages based on work with the timbres of instruments would have worked well in a separate piece, but here they lacked a rationale. The Oratorio also lacked the light overview of the Forgeries and its sense of appropriate length, and the audience is faced with a serious "meditation on Old Czech chorale". The music is the main thing at any concert, but of course evaluating the music is always difficult, because subjective. The organisa- tion of a concert is (rightly) considered the auxiliary side of the matter, and few people pay much attention to it. But here (unlike in relation to the music) one can objectively say what has worked and what has not. Decon- struction showed that it is possible to get support (financial and otherwise) for con- temporary music, to find an interesting venue and performers and to conduct an effective publicity campaign. Let it be an inspiration to other organisers before they start lamenting the sad situation.

Schola Gregoriana Pragensis

czech music 4 | 2003 | event | 15 appearing. It turned out to be dangerously high. Which of the bands is supposed to offer us something fresh in the way of dram- aturgy? Phil Shöenfelt, Znouzectnost, Činna or Michal Prokop, for goodness sake!? The organisers Unijazz have even already pre- sented us once before with the main star, the Hungarian Trottel Stereodream Experience, The name should be changed slightly and used as a subtitle for the festival, i. e. Totally Stereotypical Experience. My criticism has nothing to do with the stan- dard of performance of the musicians I’ve listed. All that bothers me is the very high number of familiar faces. The only novel aspect of the music section of the festival was the programme in the synagogue, where visitors could successively listen to Oldřich Janota, Dagmar Andrtová and Ridina Ahmed. Admittedly the first two are hardly newcom- ers, but in this threesome they turned the Činna synagogue into a special musical islet built on quietness, careful treatment of every note, and allowing the place to imprint itself onto the music played there. Lack of ideas in festival planning is not a boskovice - problem unique to Boskovice. You could say the same about Litoměřice Roots, Mikulov and other festivals. Nonetheless there is at exhaustion? least one event that could provide a model for organisers. Paradoxically it is not primarily a music festival, but the Summer Film School When the Boskovice Festival began eleven Uherské Hradište. The accompanying music years ago, its mission was clear: to draw the programme included, for example, the attention of the public to the town’s Jewish famous foursome of “ordinary” Sardinian quarter and to help towards its restoration. It farmers and artisans Tenores di Bitti, repre- was not so much a question of direct finan- sentatives of the traditional raw style of su cial gain. What the organisers wanted was to tenore. There was also an appearance by the hold an unconventionally conceived festival, highly rated Mexican tropipunk band Los de Dagmar Andrtová scattered at various locations and appealing- Abajo and several thematic concerts focused ly cutting across the arts, as a way of on poets – concerts for Wernisch, Kainar, increasing the interest of the public in the Kryl and Bondy. town. One of the basic signs of a good festival is This year’s walk through Boskovice showed that it tries to bring visitors into contact with that the idea had succeeded with flying new music. Too many events have gradually colours. In deliberately giving visitors more abandoned this task. The main lesson of the freedom, the festival has even become a eleventh year of Boskovice is the fact that it model for many other cultural events. You has become a classic example. don’t have to be imprisoned for several days in one fenced enclosure. Instead you are ADAM JAVŮREK always on the move. You run down from the theatre castle to the photographic exhibition in the museum, then you head for the acoustic concert in the synagogue maior, nip out for an authorial reading in the Sokol Boskovice Castle sports centre and finally stroll down to the main music performance in the summer cin- ema. And I haven’t even mentioned the won- derful morning fairytales. It’s a model that still works reliably, but it has entirely reversed the relationship between the festival and its town. Earlier the festival drew attention to the town, but now it is Boskovice that serves the festival. In many ways it is a happy end for the town, but it can be a little disappointing for the visitor. Why? The reason is that the festival is suffer- ing from stagnant choice of acts. Some- body tried to calculate the average age of Jáchym Topol performers, i. e. the age of the groups Oldřich Janota

16 | event | czech music 4 | 2003 CDVisit the SHOPfirst specialised Special Special Virtual exclusively Czech contemporary music Virtual Real http://www.musica.cz/cdshop and also very Real at the Czech Music Information Centre Besední 3, 118 00 Prague 1 Czech Republic fax: +420 2 5731 7424

Czech Music Information Centre Besední 3, 118 00 Prague 1 Czech Republic 13TH INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL PRAGUE AUTUMN

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ELIZABETH VIDAL 11. 9. – 1. 10. 2003

11. 9. Thursday 19.30 Rudolfinum 19. 9. Friday 19.30 Rudolfinum 27. 9. Saturday 15. 30, 19.30 Rudolfinum SUK Fantastic Scherzo BEETHOVEN "HUNDRED GIPSY " DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto in A Minor Twelve Contredances, excerpts OFFENBACH, ROSSINI, BRAHMS MARTINŮ Symphony No. 4 Symphony No. 8 LISZT, J. STRAUSS, TRADITIONAL RUSSIAN PHILHARMONIA, VEDERNIKOV, JASHVILI Triple Concerto BUDAPEST GIPSY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Price of tickets: 950, 600, 450, 300, 150 CZK PRAGUE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Price of tickets: 1200, 750, 550, 400, 200 CZK LAJČÍK, KAPLAN, CARR, WEISS 12. 9. Friday 19.30 Rudolfinum Price of tickets: 800, 500, 400, 300, 150 CZK 28. 9. Sunday 19.30 Rudolfinum RIMSKY-KORSAKOV JANÁČEK Sadko 20. 9. Saturday 19:30 Ballad of Blaník TCHAIKOVSKY Concert Fantasy for Piano Karlovy Vary DVOŘÁK Concerto in B Minor MUSSORGSKY "Without Sunlight", SCHUBERT Die schöne Müllerin BARTHOLDY Die erste Walpurgisnacht, cantata cycle for baritone FLECHTER, ŠAROUN CZECH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA PROKOFIEV Love for three Oranges Price of tickets: 500, 300, 200, 100, 70 CZK CZECH PHILHAMONIC CHOIR BRNO RUSSIAN PHILHARMONIA RIZZI, PERGAMENSCHIKOW VEDERNIKOV, LIDSKY, SHTONDA 21. 9. Sunday 19.30 Rudolfinum MCKELLAR-FERGUSON, DALEY Price of tickets: 950, 600, 450, 300, 150 CZK SCHUBERT String Quartet in C Minor Price of tickets: 950, 600, 450, 300, 150 CZK BARTHOLDY 14. 9. Sunday 19.30 Violin Concerto in D Minor 29. 9. Monday 19.30 Rudolfinum TCHAIKOVSKY Souvenir de Florence Rudolfinum JANÁČEK The Cunning Little Vixen, SÜDWESTDEUTSCHES KAMMERORCHESTER RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1 suite from opera TEWINKEL, GLUZMAN SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad" PADEREWSKI Piano Concerto in A Minor Price of tickets: 700, 450, 350, 250, 100 CZK ST. PETERSBURG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BERLIOZ Fantastic Symphony DMITRIJEV, RUDY NATIONAL POLISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 22. 9. Monday 19.30 State Opera Prague Price of tickets: 1200, 750, 550, 400, 200 CZK CHMURA, PALECZNY ARIAS AND DUETS FROM OPERAS BY 30. 9. Tuesday 19.30 Rudolfinum Price of tickets: 700, 450, 350, 250, 100 CZK BERLIOZ, BIZET, GIORDANO GOUNOD RIMSKY-KORSAKOV MASSENET, PUCCINI ROSSINI, VERDI Capriccio Espagnol 15. 9. Monday 19.30 Rudolfinum DVOŘÁK Piano Concerto in G Minor MOZART ORCHESTRA OF THE STATE OPERA PRAGUE TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5 Symphony in A Major K 201 HANUS, ELLIS, COGNET MOZART Piano Concerto in A Major K 414 PRAGUE RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LISZT Malédiction Price of tickets: 800, 500, 400, 300, 150 CZK VÁLEK, BOYDE DVOŘÁK Serenade in E Major 23. 9. Tuesday 19.30 Rudolfinum Price of tickets: 950, 600, 450, 300, 150 CZK FESTIVAL STRINGS LUCERNE, LINDHOLM, KUPIEC LIEDER RECITAL 1. 10. Wednesday 19.30 Rudolfinum Price of tickets: 950, 600, 450, 300, 150 CZK BENEDICT, BORDOGNI, DAVID DEBUSSY Nocturnes 16. 9. Tuesday 19:30 Rudolfinum GOUNOD, MASSENET, RODRIGO VERDI WAGNER Three operatic arias RODRIGO ELGAR Serenade for Strings Concierto de Aranjuez SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major RAVEL MOZART Violin Concerto in A Major K 219 PRAGUE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, VIDAL, BRABEC Bolero TCHAIKOVSKY Elegy for Strings Price of tickets: 800, 500, 400, 300, 150 CZK PRAGUE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, PRAGUE SINGERS HAYDN BENZI, CALEY, ROGÉ Symphony No. 57 24. 9. Wednesday 19.30 Rudolfinum EUROPEAN UNION CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Price of tickets: 800, 500, 400, 300, 150 CZK BIZET WOLLONG, MATOUŠEK Symphony in C Major RAVEL Piano Concerto for the Left Hand Price of tickets: 700, 450, 350, 250, 100 CZK Programme subject to change STRAUSS Burlesque 17. 9. Wednesday 19.30 Rudolfinum RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole LIEDER RECITAL PRAGUE RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BARRIOS, STEUERMAN GLINKA, RACHMANINOFF MAIL ORDERS (UNTIL 31. 7. 2003): RUBINSTEIN, TCHAIKOVSKY Price of tickets: 800, 500, 400, 300, 150 CZK PRAGUE AUTUMN International Music Festival TCHAIKOVSKY Serenade for Strings 25. 9. Thursday 19.30 Rudolfinum Příběnická 20, 130 00 Prague 3 tel.: +420 222 540 484 MOSCOW CHAMBER ORCHESTRA DVOŘÁK The Golden Spinning Wheel ORBELIAN, GORCHAKOVA JANÁČEK The Fiddler's Child e-mail: [email protected] Price of tickets: 700, 450, 350, 250, 100 CZK MARTINŮ Symphony No. 6 "Fantaisies symphoniques" INFORMATION AND ORDERS BY INTERNET: 18. 9. Thursday 19.30 Rudolfinum BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, VOLKOV www.pragueautumn.cz BERLIOZ Price of tickets: 1200, 750, 550, 400, 200 CZK Royal Hunt and Storm (Les Troyens) MAIN BOX OFFICE (SINCE 1. 8. 2003): La belle voyageuse, Chant de bonheur (Lélio) 26. 9. Friday 19.30 Rudolfinum Box office Rudolfinum La captive, Zaïde, Rakoczy March, Te Deum BRITTEN Sinfonia da Requiem CZECH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA BRUCH Scottish Fantasy Alšovo nábřeží 12, Prague 1 SLOVAK PHILHARMONIC CHOIR BERLIOZ Romeo and Juliet, suite KÜHN’S CHILDREN’S CHOIR BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OTHER OFFICES: NELSON, DUTTON, FLECHTER VOLKOV, SHAHAM Ticketpro, Bohemia Ticket Price of tickets: 800, 500, 400, 300, 150 CZK Price of tickets: 1200, 750, 550, 400, 200 CZK Wolff Travel International, Prague Tourist Center

UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF CZECH REPUBLIC. UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE LORD MAYOR OF CITY OF PRAGUE. CO-ORGANISER THE CITY OF PRAGUE