THE BOHUSLAVMARTINŮ FOUNDATION THE BOHUSLAVMARTINŮ INSTITUTE THE INTERNATIONALMARTINŮCIRCLE MR juliette may—august 2016 / vol.XVI / no.2 in prague and berlin the greek passion special summer issue in graz with reviews the epic of gilgamesh of martinů’s premieres! in brno violin concerto — new discovery s w exciting ---nts ne - revıew cont

NIGEL SIMEONE reviews the first two volumes of the 3 highlights / obituary Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition for the September remembering harry halbreich edition of Notes, the Quarterly Journal of the Music ALEŠ BŘEZINA Library Association. More details about the review are to be revealed soon on our website www.martinu.cz 4 imc news Quotes: 5 incircle news Symphony No.4: ”With the additional material in the appendices, and the extensive introduction and critical apparatus, this edition should be of the greatest interest to anybody performing or studying this symphony, particularly as the task of editing it has been done so meticulously.” 6 reviews juliette in prague & berlin The Epic of Gilgamesh: ”Březina’s edition is a model PETR VEBER, LENKA ŠALDOVÁ of its kind.” ”As well as the discussion of context and genesis, 8 news the introductory matter also includes a number bohuslav martinů complete edition of carefully chosen facsimile pages from various symphony no.4 stages in the work’s evolution (including the SHARON A. CHOA / SANDRA BERGMANNOVÁ preliminary sketch).” unusual scorings: ”As with the Fourth Symphony, Bärenreiter’s note- mixed chamber music setting is beautifully clear throughout, and well JITKA ZICHOVÁ laid-out on the page. As befits an edition of this kind, the paper is of high quality, as is the sturdy 9 research cloth binding of both volumes.” a concerto twice lost JANA HONZÍKOVÁ ”This new complete edition – which I strongly recom mend to music libraries and serious Martinů 10 reviews enthusi asts alike –should do much to bring his music in from the margins. These first two volumes the greek passion at the oper graz ❚ are a most auspicious start to the project.” 12 portrait y The Epic of Gilgamesh was awarded the German Music Edition Prize for Best Edition of 2016 …your performance totally engrossed me… / part 1 bohuslav martinů days 2014 jakub hrůša on jiří bělohlávek 14 research A NEW CD, featuring performances at the ballet the shadow, H 102 Bohuslav Martinů Days 2014 festival, is under MICHAEL CRUMP preparation. The album, which you will receive with the next issue of the Martinů Revue, 16 interview contains the following compositions: String Quartet No. 4, H 256 …with tomáš jamník ANNA MATOUŠKOVÁ Sedláček Quartet (first prize at the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Competition 2014) The Sedláček Quartet the tale of a corrected note TOMÁŠ JAMNÍK Field Mass, H 279, cantata for baritone, male chorus and orchestra recorded at a concert given by the Prague reviews HISTORICAL RECORDING, Supraphon, 1958 Mixed Choir in 2016 according to the new 18 Choir of the Vít Nejedlý Army Artistic Ensemble, results of research for the Bohuslav Martinů dido and gilgamesh Czech Philharmonic Soloists Choir, Bohumír Complete Edition. Prague Mixed Choir, members at the janáček theatre in brno Liška (Conductor), Theodor Šrubař (Baritone) of the Band of the Castle Guards and Police of MICHAELA VOSTŘELOVÁ, OLGA JANÁČKOVÁ Field Mass, H 279 — alternative ending the Czech Republic, Jiří Petrdlík (Conductor). ❚

2 | martinůrevue22016 17 October 2016 operas > Czech Museum of Music, Prague, CZ WORLD PREMIERES OF THE BOHUSLAV THREE WISHES OR INCONSTANCY MARTINŮ COMPLETE EDITION, VOL. 4 highlights OF THE LIFE, H 175 SERENADE NO. 1, H 217 26 October 2016 SERENADE NO. 3, H 218 6 November 2016 LES RONDES, H 200 nd > National Moravian-Silesian Theatre, STOWE PASTORALS, H 335, 2 benefit concert Ostrava, CZ NONET NO. 2, H 374 www.ndm.cz Members of of the bohuslav PKF — Prague JULIETTE, H 253 Philharmonia martinů institute 26 October 2016 4 November 2016 EPIC OF GILGAMESH, H 351 28 November 2016 / 7.30 pm ] 22 + 31 March 2017 (Volume No. 1) 3 April 2017 > Kaiserstein Palace, Prague, CZ (together with Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell) More info: www.martinu.cz > National Theatre, Prague, CZ 15 + 16 + 18 November 2016 LEOŠ JANÁČEK www.narodni-divadlo.cz > National Theatre Brno, CZ Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs — www.ndbrno.cz selection PLAYS OF MARY, H 236 BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ 16 + 27 December 2016 The New Slovak Songs, H 126 (1920) — > National Theatre Brno, CZ THE SPECTRE’S BRIDE, 214 A selection www.ndbrno.cz WORLD PREMIERE OF THE BOHUSLAV Martina Janková (Soprano), MARTINŮ COMPLETE EDITION, VOL. 3 Tomáš Král (Baritone), 23 November 2016 Ivo Kahánek (Piano) > Janáček’s Theatre, Brno, CZ first performances www.filharmonie-brno.cz Adriana Kohútková (Soprano), Peter Berger (Tenor), prepared according Jozef Benci (Bass), Brno Philharmonic, Jiří Rožeň (Conductor), Brno Philharmonic Choir, festivals to the bohuslav martinů Petr Fiala (Choirmaster) 22. MARTINŮ FESTTAGE 2016 complete edition EPIC OF GILGAMESH, H 351 12—27 November 2016 (Volume No. 1) > Basel FIELD MASS, H 279 25 + 26 + 27 January 2017 More info: www.martinu.ch (Volume No. 3) > Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall 23 September 2016 www.ceskafilharmonie.cz > Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall, BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ DAYS 2016 Lucy Crowe (Soprano), Andrew Staples (Tenor), International Music Festival Dvořákova Praha 20 November — 22 December 2016 Derek Welton (Baritone), Jan Martiník (Bass), www.dvorakovapraha.cz > Prague Prague Philharmonic Choir, Lukáš Vasilek Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek More info: www.martinu.cz (Conductor), (Choirmaster), Czech Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonic Choir, Lukáš Vasilek Jiří Bělohlávek (Conductor) (Choirmaster), Svatopluk Sem (Baritone) obituary to the Köchel catalogue of W. A. Mozart’s works. remembering The catalogue was published in its second version in 2007 and became synonymous with research on Bohuslav Martinů's works the world over. harry halbreich In the preamble to the revised Catalogue of Bo - hu slav Martinů Works, Harry Halbreich confesses: / ALEŠ BŘEZINA “[…] This catalogue would never have come into being had it not been for the generous support, ON MONDAY, 27 June 2016, the eminent Belgian numerous stimuli and encouraging, as well as expert on Czech music, musicologist Harry practical assistance, on the part of the Bohuslav Halbreich, passed away after a long and difficult Martinů Institute – its director Aleš Březina (who illness. As a leading personality who made an has become a good friend of mine) and his diligent unparalleled contribution to Martinů research, Society. That event became a crucial moment of his female associates, whom I can denominate the he also authored publications on Olivier Messiaen, life as he decided to devote his life entirely to music. true co-authors of the book. For years, the Bohuslav Arthur Honegger, Edgar Varèse, as well as Iannis As the 1950's were coming to an end, he finished Martinů Institute has made me feel at home.” Xenakis and Giacchinto Scelsi. He was a frequent his studies with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Con- We are immensely saddened by the passing of this jury member in contemporary music festivals and servatory and began to work as an assistant in noble friend of Czech culture, who was a frequent, chaired the Société Philharmonique de Bruxelles. a company that imported Supraphon recordings and very welcome, visitor to the Bohuslav Martinů He first discovered the music of Bohuslav Mar - to France. He first came to Prague in 1958 and Institute. tinů in 1948 when he saw Rafael Kubelík conduct continued to return to the city ever since. He cre - An article about Harry Halbreich was pub lished his Double concerto at the Brussels Philharmonic ated the Bohuslav Martinů catalogue, comparable in Martinů Revue, No. 1, January–April 2014, page 4. ❚

martinůrevue22016 | 3 ws amateur musicians

imc ne from the netherlands play martinů

/ GERT FLOOR

SJEF DE KORT (born 1973 Breda, Netherlands) studied French horn and con ducting at the Hague Royal Con - servatory. He works as a con ductor of several amateur symphony and wind orchestras. Sjef de Kort Concert in Polička, CZ, June 2016. Gert Floor sixth from the right I met him when he coached a group of ama teur musicians preparing Bohuslav Mar - at Brno Academy. Petráš was present at my final tional, where it seems to become just a mo ment tinů’s magnifi cent Nonet No.2, H 374, in which exams in The Hague. too much for the then already very sick composer. I played the viola part. This came at the initia tive In the Netherlands the music of Martinů is But he regains his com posure, it seems, with the of his father, Fons de Kort, an enthusiastic ama - almost never played, and if it is played, this is at repeat of the opening section of that movement. teur French horn player, IMC member and admirer the initiative of pupils themselves. That is such I have also puzzled over the tempo of the of Czech music in general. a pity! I regard his music very highly: he is very second movement, indicated Andante: should this “Do you feel specially drawn to Czech music?” clear in how he wants things to sound. He has move ment be defined by expectation of death, like and “How did this originate?” I asked him. searched for — and really found! — his own style, many performances seem to suggest (playing very “Sure!” he replies: “Oldřich Milek, my French in which the lines of melody in the accom pa ni ment slowly), or is life still going on? horn teacher, who escaped many years ago to the and in the principal melody are quite clearly sepa - The “complicated” rhythms in the music of Mar - Netherlands and guided me from my 10th until rated from each other by the instrumentation, tinů are, in fact, not entirely complicated: every my 30th year, has educated me according to the resulting in a distinctive tone colour. The Nonet Czech child recognizes, sings and hops to them. Czech French Horn School, in which the rhythmical is full of small sections with such a distinctive But for Dutch people it is quite a different matter: studies of Starý were an integral part. I also sound. In the first movement, just before the the musicians have to work to get com fortable attended the masterclass of Prof. Jindřich Petráš reprise the music is almost programmatically emo - with them to play them naturally.” ❚ mobile exhibition bohuslav martinů — leben und werk / GABRIELE JONTÉ

PROGRAM notes are an established source of in - for mation for audiences, and verbal introduc tions to concert performances have become quite com - mon. But an exhibition accompanying a musi cal perform ance is still something very special. The exhibition “Bohuslav Martinů — Leben und Werk” manner. Initiated by Robert Kolinsky, the project was realized by formed an essential backdrop to the Martinů Fest - graphic designer Sibylle Ryser and musicologist Gabriele Jonté. The tage 2015 in Basel. It consists of five modules modules can easily be assembled, disassembled and trans ported. This providing easily readable information on Martinů’s way they will be available for further events, not only in Basel, but life and work in Polička, Prague, Paris, the USA and wherever Martinů’s works might be performed in German-speaking finally France, Italy and Switzerland. Correspond - countries. In June 2016, the exhibition could be seen at the Schiller ing photographs have been carefully selected Theater in Berlin during a production of the opera Juliette. ❚ and are displayed in an aesthetically captivating Gabriele Jonté and Gert Floor are IMC members

4 | martinůrevue22016 M R b ]d MARTINŮ REVUE (formerly Bohuslav Martinů Newsletter) is published by the International Martinů Circle in collabo ra - tion with the Bohuslav Martinů Institute in Prague with the financial support w of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation. incirclene s Jakub Hrůša, Magdalena Kožená, Published with the financial support President of IMC IMC Patron of the Ministry of Culture of Czech Republic, code No. MKCRX006Z32Y MORE VOTES NEEDED FOR THE IMC Editors International Martinů Circle Zoja Seyčková & Lucie Harasim, TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO A SOCIETY Bohuslav Martinů Institute SINCE MAY, the International Martinů Circle members have been voting GENERAL INFORMATION Justin Krawitz (English language editor) on the association’s transformation into a society. As of the beginning of Publisher’s Office Members receive the illustrated International Martinů Circle, o.s. July, we had received the vast majority of the necessary number of Martinů Revue published three times IČ: 22688846 votes. At the present time, however, we still need another 43 votes so as a year plus a special limited edition CD Bořanovická 14, 182 00 Praha 8-Kobylisy, to make the vote valid. We have therefore decided to extend the voting containing world premieres, historic Czech Republic period till 15 October 2016 and again appeal to those of you who have performances and archival recordings e-mail: [email protected] from the annual Martinů Festival not www.martinu.cz yet to cast their vote. Without receiving the necessary number obtainable commercially. Translation of selected articles of votes, it will not be possible to complete the transformation until The IMC is supported by the Bohu - Hilda Hearne the end of 2016, which would threaten the very existence of the slav Martinů Foundation and Bohuslav Photographs IMC, including the publication of the Martinů Revue, the release of Martinů Institute in Prague. The Bohuslav Martinů Foundation’s CDs and the pursuit of other activities. We firmly believe that we will and Institute’s archive, collections of the Bohuslav Martinů Center in Polička succeed in obtaining the remaining votes. Theinformation about the MEMBERSHIP & SUBSCRIPTION Graphic Design David Cígler voting results, and about the completion of the entire process of trans- INFORMATION formation, will be provided in the autumn issue of the Martinů Revue. We Printing BOOM TISK, spol. s r.o. ï YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION: extend our thanks to all the members who have participated in the The Martinů Revue is published 25 EUR / 30 USD / 18 GBP / 450 CZK three times a year in Prague. voting for their cooperation and ask the others for prompt assistance! Cover Contact for more information: Lucie Jirglová, [email protected] ï SUBSCRIPTION FOR CORPORATE Magdalena Kožená and Rolando Villazón MEMBERS: 100 EUR / includes in the opera Juliette, Berlin, June 2016 10 copies of each Revue PLUS 3 copies © Monika Rittershaus 2016 SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENTS of the special limited edition CD ISSN 1803-8514 WE WOULD REQUEST members to forward their 2016 subscrip tion ï SPECIAL RATE for music students MK ČR E 18911 payments through their usual channels. A list of our international under 25 years of age: www.martinu.cz contacts: 10 EUR / 250 CZK > For Great Britain: ï SINGLE COPIES OF THE REVUE: Phillip C. Boswell, [email protected], 3 Warren Croft, 80 CZK / 3 EUR / 4 USD + postage Storrington, RH20 4BE Great Britain > For Netherlands and Luxembourg: For further details and for single copies Gert Floor (Netherlands), [email protected], +31725095262, of the Martinů Revue contact: Gortersweg 6, 1871 CC Schoorl, Netherlands Lucie Jirglová > For France and Belgium: phone: +420 773 656 586 e-mail: [email protected] Nicolas Derny, 55 Chemin de Mons, 6220 Fleurus, Belgium, phone: +32 472360869, [email protected] The International Martinů Circle, o.s.

THE PREVIOUS ISSUE > For USA: Bořanovická 1779/14 Robert Simon, [email protected], mobile number 216-973-7716, 182 00 Praha 8-Kobylisy, CZ THE BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ CENTER 322 E Colfax Ave #103, South Bend, IN 46617, USA > For Germany: IN POLIČKA offers an interesting, inter - A WARM WELCOME actively conceived exhibition on the com - Lucie & Clemens Harasim, [email protected], +49 152 581 668 32 TO NEW MEMBERS poser’s life and work. The modern display of Members from other countries please pay via: > Rev Neville Jarrett, UK Bohuslav Martinů’s life and work is located – IMC Paypal account at: www.martinu.cz, section International > Derek Katz, USA in the historical building of the former council school, which Martinů attended Martinů Circle, subsection Membership as a child. Consequently, the project also – or directly via bank account in Prague (the number you can find at BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ comprises a reproduction of Martinů’s the same web page — section). DAYS 2014 CD classroom, complete with period painting PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME WHEN PAYING VIA BANK TRANSFER, Because of the demanding process of and furniture. The centre also contains the IMC’s transformation into a society, an audio-visual hall and study room. SO WE CAN IDENTIFY YOUR PAYMENT. you will receive the CD along with the Bohuslav Martinů Center Members who pay their subscriptions via the Dvořák Society should next Martinů Revue. We apologise for Tylova 114, 572 01 Polička continue to do so. Those wishing to pay in Czech currency or by cash the delay. tel.: +420 461 723 857 should contact us at [email protected] ❚ More info see page 2. www.cbmpolicka.cz

martinůrevue22016 | 5 reviews juliette in prague &

phantom, a vision common — at least by name — to juliette in prague: all the dreamers… These are the stimuli affording every stage director an extraordinarily wide spec - an open road to the trum of associations, feelings, images and interpre - tations, wider than in the case of many other operas. Zuzana Gilhuus, a Slovak artist living in Norway, world of dreams. has both directed the Prague production and cre - ated its scenography. She presents the major visual or out of it? idea in Act 1, fleshing out the unreal urban milieu into the form of a sort of square, white, mysterious / PETR VEBER pool with plants. In Act 2, set in a forest, all this is elevated — not too becomingly — quite high on THE OPERA Juliette, H 253 does not end clearly. pillars, perhaps representing tree trunks. The action The com poser Bohuslav Martinů, who also penned takes places on both the lower and upper level. the libretto, leaves open two opposite possibilities: In Act 3, set in a bureau, all that remains from the Michel will either awaken from his dreaming or initial plane is a suspended fragment, a suggestion, he won’t. He will either return to reality or he will a single ledge, whereas the vacated, virtually empty, arrive at the decision to stay beyond it for good. space is enlarged and deepened. The one and only The stage director of the new production at the real scenic element present in all the three Acts is National Theatre in Prague, Zuzana Gilhuus, a white piano that is never played. And there is also has rather indicated — judging by the first-cast the motif of the stairway hanging in the air, not premiere on 24 March — the latter option. But the denoting anything until the end, when it appears outcome may not actually be of great importance, as a possible route, ambivalently open to the world as the sense of the surrealistically absurd fantasy of dreams — or to leaving this world. Then it is up certainly rests much more (or almost entirely) to the spectator to decide which way to let the in the drama’s course than its denouement. wandering Michel take. Peter Berger (Michel) and Alžběta Poláčková (Juliette)

If the subject matter of Juliette is the pursuit of the female ideal (or the illusion thereof), or if it is the existential uncertainty of dreaming, and if this opera is (or should be) about creating a forum for poetic images that give rise to philosophising about the vital importance of memory and recollections, then this theatrical realisation is almost too realistic, espe cially towards the end. Nonetheless, the pro duction does possess a creative idiom and atmo sphere. Martinů composed this first truly mature work of his to Georges Neveux’s surrealistic play at the end of the 1930s, filling it with unsettling, colourful, imaginative, passionate, as well as dreamy, highly suggestive, markedly personal music, into which he undoubtedly projected his own desires and in which he later on found the reflection of his own yearnings. He conceived the opera Juliette (The Key to Dreams) in a largely symphonic manner. The stylistic and sonic traits of the previous years are audible in this music, as are the glimmers of the direction his inven - tion and instrumentation would take a few years later. It clearly reveals the incipient synthesis of Neo-Classicism and Neo-Impressionism, a masterful One is hard pressed to believe that this inspired The girl Juliette — who in the final Act is singing, musical imagination and sense of theatre. and peerless work, in which the story and the music audible, yet inaccessible — remains consistently The National Theatre production was conducted so magically blend together, is now being staged at elusive, akin to the door behind which there is by Jaroslav Kyzlink, who presented the music in the National Theatre for only the fourth time in its nothing. And in a similar vein, the motif of the grey an elaborate form, with its foundation being rather history, and more than a quarter of a century since figures who are talked and sung about, a motif of compact, more dramatic and specific than dreamily the premiere of the previous adaptation. In the lunatics who have resolved to stay in a dream for lyrical. This approach corresponds with the vocal mean time, Prague audiences have only had the ever, that is, a motif that can add eeriness, grue - performances of the lead characters by the first opportunity to see a guest performance of David some ness or, at least, cogency to the opera and may premiere cast. Alžběta Poláčková is a splendid Pountney’s British production. Over the past few suggest the story’s ending, is not implemented here Juliette, singing beautifully and with certainty, yet decades, Juliette has been performed at a number visually. by no means is she an ethereal being, being instead of theatres across Europe — including in Brno, When it comes to the staging concept, fantasy, a decidedly real, flesh-and-blood young woman. And Görlitz, and Paris — and London has also presented imagination and unreality are the most distinct and the bookseller Michel, on his mysterious wander ings, it in a concert version. A town without memory, most forcible in Act 1, with the final Act being much striving to find the girl singing a song that he may a bureau of dreams, a vendor of memories, a girl- poorer in terms of invention and true surrealism. have heard in the past, finding himself in weird

6 | martinůrevue22016 not strive to create conceptions for the sake of creating conceptions. Rather, they unveil surprising possibilities in the works they take on, and present these with eloquence and attention to the finest detail, both on the stage and in the orchestra pit. The production of Martinů’s Juliette is yet another berlin case in point. Michel is imprisoned in a crazy, frantic dream. He finds himself in a giant white cube, with its walls situations and facing Juliette’s similarly incompre - made up of dozens of small doors, the floor of hensible whims? Brilliantly sung, performed in an dozens of hatches. You never know who or what almost romantic Italianate way by Peter Berger, will spring up from somewhere — and again he comes across more as a hero than a dreamer, disappear. In the first scene, Michel tries to hide more a victim of passion than a blundering wretch. a revolver and Juliette’s shawl. As in a proper slap - The two artists are superb in portraying Juliette and stick comedy, as soon as he gets rid of them they Michel in the opera’s given interpretation, while promptly re-emerge. The maddest thing about the all the other singers do credit to the collaboration — dream is not that all the people in the town visited Ondřej Koplík, Petr Levíček, Vladimír Chmelo, by Michel have lost their memory and so behave Luděk Vele, Ivan Kusnjer, Yvona Škvárová, Alžběta strangely, buying reminiscences, having their past Vomáčková, Lucie Hájková. foretold… It is not their bizarre demeanour that The world premiere of Martinů’s Juliette took drives the young man insane. At every turn, Michel place at the National Theatre in Prague on 16 March is above all haunted by that which he himself 1938, conducted by Václav Talich, where the work (apparently) has done: that he has shot Juliette met with great acclaim. The opera has not lost any dead. Yes, it only occurs at the end of Act 2, but why of its forcefulness over the years. Yet now a lot is at could Act 1 not come after Act 2? It is enough to photos: national theatre prague – theatre national photos: hana smejkalová stake: the challenge is to engage current audiences, show the inscription “24 hours earlier”. Accordingly, who generally do not attend the Czech opera clas - Michel is seen at the end of Act 2 in the situation sics en masse and with expectations, and to engage identical to that at the very start of the perform - audience members on an individual level. And the ance: when he finally disposes of the dead body, he creators of the new National Theatre production must hide the revolver and the shawl somewhere… have, with the best intentions, done their utmost The introductory scene recurs once again: in Act 3, to attain this objective. ❚ the white cube is moved to the background, the empty stage is shrouded in a mist through which dreaming figures flounder. It is a beautiful, poetic — as well as spine-chilling — bureau of dreams. Michel Rolando Villazón (Michel) and Richard Croft (Officer) juliette in berlin: leaves it and approaches the white cube, observing himself desperately trying to hide the revolver and also evident in the edgy vocal performance, which the shawl. Himself, imprisoned in a murderous is deliberately somewhat sobbing. All that complies imprisoned in dream for good. with Barenboim’s acutely dramatic musical con - While the casting of Rolando Villazón does not ception: no trace of dreamy lyricism, but rather an a murderous dream showcase the artist in top vocal form, his charac- unceasing agitation, tension — dashing in a frantic terization of Michel is impeccable. Villazón’s Michel tempo. And Juliette (splendidly sung by Magdalena / LENKA ŠALDOVÁ is an erratic, impetuous, restless guy, constantly Kožená) is by no means a lyrical fairy but a vivid girl and nervously roaming across the stage. Desper - in a red dress and court shoes. Self-confident, ready BERLIN, the Schiller Theater. Daniel Barenboim on ately and in vain does he strive to gain control of to enjoy every single moment she lives through, as the conductor’s podium, Claus Guth directing. Two on the goings-on, like, for instance, elbowing out well as the memories she makes up. Little does she distinguished artists, both known for their original Juliette’s unwanted admirers. Distraught, he tears correspond to the romantic being Michel dreamt up interpretations. Yet their interpretations never up the flowers he has brought to Juliette. (She loves a few years ago, when she smiled down at him from come across as unbecoming or affected. They do me? She loves me not?) The excess of emotions is a balcony. The audience follow the rising resent - ment on the part of Michel, a hopeless dreamer, with the clash between the illusion and the reality Magdalena Kožená (Juliette) and Rolando Villazón (Michel) becoming unbearable, and Michel ultimately pick - ing up a gun and killing Juliette, who mocks his dreams. The clash between illusion and reality is the central theme of Claus Guth’s production, in which the strange milieu of the town whose inhabi - tants have lost their memory recedes into the back - ground and everything circles around Michel’s obsession with Juliette. And the murder he finally, and inevitably, commits. The murder he strives to cover up. An unusual conception, in a truly com - pelling performance. ❚

Berlin, Staatsoper im Schiller Theater Bohuslav Martinů: Juliette, H 253 Conductor: Daniel Barenboim; Stage director: Claus Guth; Sets: Alfred Peter; Costumes: Eva Dessecker; Choreography: Ramses Sigl; Chorus master: Martin Wright; Lighting design: Olaf Freese; Dramaturgy: Yvonne Gebauer and Roman Reeger. 28 May 2016 photos monika rittershaus photos Premiere: Performance reviewed: 14 June 2016

martinůrevue22016 | 7 news bohuslav martinů complete bohuslav martinů, unusual scorings: symphony no.4 mixed chamber music / SHARON A. CHOA / SANDRA BERGMANNOVÁ by bohuslav martinů

SYMPHONY No.4, H 305, was written in the spring new volume of the complete edition of 1945, during the last months of World War II. The work was officially commissioned by William / JITKA ZICHOVÁ Ziegler. The Zieglers had lived in Manhattan since their marriage in 1927, and as they were prominent AMONGST the sumptuous riches of Bohuslav Mar - patrons of the arts, it may be assumed that they tinů’s creative output, there are original chamber were actively involved in cultural events. It is thus music works for larger forces. A new volume in very probable that Martinů continued to meet with the Complete Edition now makes these available. the Zieglers in New York even after the summer of Volume No. IV/4/1 of the Bohuslav Martinů Com - 1943, and the commission could have been made at plete Edition comprises chamber music compositions this time. The symphony was premiered on 30 No- for mixed wind and string ensembles. With the excep - vember 1945 by the Philadelphia Orchestra con - tion of one of the works (Nonet No. 2, H 374), the ducted by Eugene Ormandy. This was followed by combinations are unusual — the septet Les Rondes, additional performances in December in various H 200, is written for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, locations throughout the United States. Martinů two violins and piano; Serenade No. 1, H 217, attended the premiere, as attested by correspon - is for clarinet, horn, three violins and viola; Serenade dence with his family before and after the event. No. 3, H 218, is for oboe, clarinet, four violins and According to the author’s own words from his letter cello; the nonet Stowe Pastorals, H 335, is for five home, the premiere was a great success. A study of recorders, two violins, clarinet and cello. These the available American reviews reveals a generally uncommon instrumentations are in line with Bohu - positive consensus expressing admiration for the slav Martinů’s other chamber works, especially in praiseworthy musicality enhanced by compositional Bohuslav Martinů in 1945 his Paris works from the 1920s to 1930s, which are skill, and the ability to exploit the classical form notable for their experimentation in both sound and while using new content. As far as we know, the work was performed once more in New York in 1948 by the Rochester Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Erich Leinsdorf. As Bohuslav Mar - tinů was still living in the US at the time, it is possible that he attended the concert. In Europe the work became known thanks to the efforts of Rafael Kubelík. He conducted the Euro pean premiere with the Czech Philharmonic in Prague on 10 October 1946. Kubelík then con- ducted the symphony in other European cities and in Australia. Martinů sent different lists of correc - tions to his publisher, but it is uncertain whether Kubelík was ever informed of the alter ations, and if he was, whether his later perform ances reflected the changes to the original score. All twenty-four performances that Kubelík conducted before his emigration from Czechoslovakia on 17 July 1948 were based on the autograph manuscript. However, the four performances that he directed in 1950 in Cape Cod (USA), a house, where Martinů composed the 4th movement of his Symphony No.4, Spring 1945 London and the Netherlands may have been based on the published version of the score. contains more than seventy errors. Due to the fact form. The com positions originated between 1930 The symphony did not remain unaltered; before that Martinů completed all his alterations before and 1959, thus encompassing several of Bohuslav publication, Martinů decided to alter some pas - allowing the symphony to be published, the main Martinů’s creative periods. sages, primarily those involving the piano. It is not text of this edition follows the com poser’s final possible to precisely date when he made the authorised version. However, as performances from LES RONDES changes that appear in the printed score due to 1945 to 1948 used the autograph version, this period The septet Les Rondes, H 200, was completed by missing scores and the fact that the symphony was documents the original concept of the composition. Bohuslav Martinů on 23 November 1930 in Paris. not published by Boosey & Hawkes until 1950. The Appendices contain the divergent passages of its The work comprises six parts, which Martinů publishing history of the symphony attests to the original version. ❚ repeatedly called dances. The composer alternately diligence with which both Martinů and the editors described the movements as Moravian or Czech from B&H strived for an accurate edition. Neverthe - (reprinted from [t]akte 1/2016, dances because they were inspired by folk tunes less, mistakes were made and the published score with their kind permission) and rhythms. This is the first work of the composer’s

8 | martinůrevue22016 edition

mature creative period that makes such extensive and ingenious use of the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements of folk music. The premiere of Les Rondes took place on 18 March 1932 at a con- cert at the École Normale de la Musique in Paris under the direction of Alfred Cortot. The work was published in 1950 by the Prague publisher Orbis.

SERENADES NOS 1 & 3 famous by the 1966 Academy Award-winning film Martinů composed a cycle of four serenades in Paris The Sound of Music. The premiere of the Stowe newdiscovery in 1932. The title page of the autograph of Serenade Pastorals was aired on 7 May 1952 on Radio Basel No. 4 includes the author’s dedica tion “À la Société as part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary the autograph of martinů’s first d’études Mozartiennes de Paris” However, we do of the foundation of the local branch of the Inter - violin concerto finally discovered not have any documents that indicate that this national Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). society ever performed the works. The premiere is The work was published in 1960 under the more generally considered to have taken place on 16 Octo- concise name Pastorals. The current edition returns a concerto twice lost ber 1947 pre sented by members of the FOK orches- to the complete original title of Stowe Pastorals, tra, as is noted by Harry Halbreich. Unfortunately, which refers both to the place and persons that / JANA HONZÍKOVÁ neither the programme nor any reviews or other inspired the composer to create the piece. sources pertaining to this concert have been pre- THE HISTORY of this Martinů piece is compli cated served. The Serenades were pub lished by the NONET NO. 2 and continues to give rise to questions that have yet Prague publishing house Melantrich in 1949. Nonet No. 2, H 374, for flute, oboe, clarinet, to be answered. The Concerto No.1, H 226, was bassoon, horn, violin, viola, violoncello and double written in 1932 and 1933, and for many years after it STOWE PASTORALS bass, H 374 was commissioned by the Czech Nonet, was penned, its autograph was considered lost. The The Stowe Pastorals, H 335, were composed by whose director, violinist Emil Leichner, had asked work was commissioned by the renowned violinist Martinů in New York in November 1951, and their Bohuslav Martinů for a composition for the Samuel Dushkin, at whose suggestion Martinů made original inspiration is connected with The Trapp ensemble’s 35th anniversary. Martinů accepted the numerous revisions. Because the concerto was not Family. Their unusual instrumentation was clearly commission, and his pledge caused a considerable premiered during Martinů’s lifetime and then was derived from the options and instruments of the stir both in Czecho slova kia and abroad. He worked lost, the second violin concerto, dating from 1943, ensemble. The Trapp Family Singers was a family on the piece in January and February 1959. The full was long deemed to be the first — until 1961, when ensemble that focused on the interpretation of folk public premiere took place at the festival in the archivist and musicologist Hans Moldenhauer music and music of the seventeenth and eighteenth Salzburger Festspiele on 27 July 1959. A pocket obtained the autograph from a member of the centuries. The group was led by Maria von Trapp, edition of the composition was published in autumn Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The world premiere who founded The Trapp Family and served as its 1959 by the Prague pub lishing house SNKLHU. ❚ took place in October 1973 in Chicago, and very artistic director together with Franz Wasner. In soon there after, the work was performed in Prague 1938 the family immigrated to America and set tled (reprinted from [t]akte 1/2016, as well — in November 1973, by Josef Suk. down in the town of Stowe. The family was made with their kind permission) According to the Halbreich catalogue, after Moldenhauer’s death the autograph was kept at the Hans Moldenhauer Archive at Spokane in the USA, and subsequently at the Library of Congress. But a part of the Hans Moldenhauer Archive was taken over by the Northwestern University Library. De - spite many questions about the autograph and personal visits over the past 20 years to the North- western Univer sity Library, the whereabouts of the manscript could not be confirmed. It seemed that the concerto had been lost for the second time. That is until the autograph was finally discov ered this February by Jana Honzíková in the General Collection of the library at Northwestern, rather than in the Moldenhauer Collection. And now a high-quality digitised version is available at the Bohuslav Martinů Institute Library. Alongside the autograph, the Northwestern University Library had maintained two pages of sketches, the solo part intended for the pre miere, and the concerto’s alternative ending. These mate - rials, combined with the parts from the premiere given by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (pro- cured earlier by Pavel Žůrek of the Bohuslav Mar - tinů Institute), now mean that the available source materials are sufficient be able to include this note - worthy and wonderful concerto in the plan for the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No.1, H 226 (autograph) Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition. ❚

martinůrevue22016 | 9 reviews

THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD Mano lios, particularly towards the end of the opera. the greek passion The Swiss stage director Lorenzo Fioroni and the Dshamilja Kaiser is a splendid Katerina, especially designer Paul Zoller plunged deep into Martinů’s when it comes to the development of her emotional at the oper graz music and have succeeded in fault lessly rendering relationship to Manolios. Both priests, Wilfried its timeless spirit. The produc tion is set in asmall Zelinka (Grigoris) and Markus Butter (Fotis), demon - a mystic journey town, where the people wear national costumes, strated enormous vocal potential. The singers of jeans and cocktail dresses alike, just as naturally the 21-member choir were also unhesitating and with halfway stations as they prepare for the annual Passion Play. faultless in their delivery. All of a sudden, a group of migrants appears. The production of The Greek Passion at the Opera here and there No, they are not Syrians or Afghans… The village Graz does not aspire to edify us, sending us rather inhabitants divide into two camps. The hard on a mystical journey through time, ending in a safe / REINHARD KRIECHBAUM hearts and obstinate clergy on the one hand, and haven. A truly unforgettable evening. Manolios, increasingly associating himself with WHAT UTTERLY fabulous music! In the middle the pageant’s messianic character of Christ, on Wiener Zeitung, 10 March 2016, abridged of the 20th century, Bohuslav Martinů came up the other. Initially, Manolios is merely an affable with an opera entirely surpassing the spirit spokesman of the kind-hearted people, yet he Bohuslav Martinů: The Greek Passion of his time: The Greek Passion, based on Nikos ultimately identifies with his role, so much so as Director: Lorenzo Fioroni Kazantzakis’s novel. Possessing a sensuous tonal to seek to become a saviour and messiah himself. Conductor: Dirk Kaftan mastery, now and then the music is “interrupted” Direct insinuations by the stage director to the Rating: ★★★★★ by folkloristic elements (yet no direct quotations current refugee crisis are not necessary, as the from folk music) and stylistic crossovers. It fea - audience immediately grasp the story’s parallel tures the typical Martinů colourfulness, leaning with the present situation. In the end, the advo - towards Impres sionism, with an important role cates of the old order and the protec tors of yet another crime being afforded to the accordion, as well as the property prevail, Manolios is left alone and the exposed harp. group of unwelcome guests has to leave. The against the redeemer Everything at the Oper Graz stands and falls curtain falls, and the astounded audience has with Dirk Kaftan, conducting the Grazer Philhar - goose-bumps. / MARTIN GASSER monisches Orchester. He lets Martinů’s music unfurl slowly, allows it to dance, yet in places IN SPITE OF REALITY A PASSION PLAY, performed by simple villagers. everything again mellows, like during a medita - The Oper Graz presented a top-notch cast, with A group of refugees seeking shelter and help. tion… What if the Greek story were to take place the vast majority made up of the members of its A shepherd who suddenly comprehends the words somewhere in Bohemia? Or elsewhere? It does own company. One of the few guests, the Swiss in the Bible as a vital message. And the men of the not really matter. tenor Rolf Romei, offers a convincing portrayal of cloth, who feel so threatened by them that they

10 | martinůrevue22016 < Markus Butter (Fotis) would rather commit murder. That is, in a nutshell, the story of the opera The Greek Passion, which has been forcefully rendered by the stage director Lorenzo Fioroni. It is a production of extreme artistic refine - ment, on the one hand, and drastically natura listic, on the other. A performance constantly shifting the boundary between theatre and reality, between play and seriousness. Fioroni refrains from direct, superficial updating of the topic in the light of current migration politics. The refugees in his conception are reminiscent of the Hebrew slaves in Cecil B. DeMille’s Holly wood epic The Ten Commandments, with their leader, the priest Fotis (grandiosely portrayed by Markus Butter), suspi - The end of the 3rd Act (Markus Butter as Fotis in the middle) ciously evoking Moses (as performed by Charlton Heston). The entire New Testament masquerade in the opera is filmed by TV cameras, with the media omni present, including at Lenio’s wedding, which turns into a ceremony of granting EU citizen ship. Today’s Europe is morally decayed: it does not live by, but merely feigns, humanity. The Passion Play, which ends with the real death of Christ, is depicted as a cynical theatre show, with the guests in tuxedos watching a little bit of brutality. Amidst this utmost artistic cultivation, which could be deemed to border on travesty, Manolios gradually identifies with Christ. An archaic play with flaming, ardent souls, one not coinci den tally akin to the universe of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s films. The lead characters are forcefully por trayed by the tenor Rolf Romei (Manolios / Christ) and Dshamilja Kaiser (Katerina / Mary Magdalene), wavering between sensuality and despair. However exaggerated it may sound, the pro - Dshamilja Kaiser (Katerina / Mary Magdalene) and Rolf Romei (Manolios / Christ) duc tion, starting with the treatment of the theme and ending with the tiniest gesture of each and every chorus-singer, really does strike home. Owing in part to Dirk Kaftan, conducting the Grazer Philharmoniker, who has succeeded in communicating the sheer diversity of Mar tinů’s music: its chamber-like idiom, energetic rhythm, harmonic richness. Much like the excellently led choir, the singers performing the minor roles also produce splendid, admirable moments: Konstantin Sfiris as the Old Man, Manuel von Senden as Yannakos, Benjamin Plautz as the narrator, Taylan Reinhard as Panait, etc. The ensemble and the choir, the sets, wittily designed by Paul Zoller, Fioroni’s direction — all these come together in a grandiose play about the murder of a man whose Christian stance evidently gives rise to outrage. Yet again.

Kronen Zeitung, 7 March 2016, abridged

Manolios (Rolf Romei) identifies with his role of Christ, 3rd Act photos: werner kmetitsch

martinůrevue22016 | 11 portrait …your performance jakub hrůša on jiří bělohlávek / part 1 and tenderness, an execution so balanced and certain. Ever since, I have often given thought The famous Czech conductor and Martinů interpreter Jiří Bělohlávek to how it is at all possible to perform music so celebrated his 70th birthday this year. In the text below, his pupil and precisely, as well as forcefully. […]” The epistle continued with my expressing the desire to try, current president of the Inter national Martinů Circle Mr Jakub Hrůša immediately after completing my grammar describes his relationship with Mr Bělohlávek in a very personal way. school studies, to pass the exams for the Acad - emy of Performing Arts in Prague, at which the IT WAS SOMETIME in 1996 or 1997 — I was and Beethoven’s Eroica far surpassed that addressee was teaching at the time, and thanks still studying at the four-year grammar school which was regularly heard in Brno — an evalu - for, among other things, the aesthetic aspect on Kapitán Jaroš Avenue in Brno, preparing ation based not as much on my certainly of the maestro’s conducting (which had pro - myself for my future, an unclear career in one perfunctory sense of judgment, but rather on foundly impressed me): “[…] Therefore, I utter of the dozens of possible spheres — when the overall, essential feeling, intuition, which my sincere admiration for your performance I first caught sight of Jiří Bělohlávek. I remem - permeated me beyond the framework of my and thanks for giving me the inspiring example ber the moment as though it were yesterday. intellectual faculties. Today, it is not easy to of your behaviour. […]” Later on, Jiří Bělohlávek

y Jiří Bělohlávek was awarded by the Martinů medal in 2006 y Jiří Bělohlávek conducting the stage performance of the opera What Men Live by in December 2014

As a young music-lover, I used to attend the express in words what exactly made the per - and I would frequently be compared as regards majority of the orchestral concerts in my native form ance so forceful, yet the experience was our conducting gestures, or more precisely, my city, given by the Brno State Philharmonic a powerful one. On the next possible occasion, gestures were said to mimic those of Jiří’s. Yet Orchestra. Step by step, I developed a sense I gave vent to my impressions and conveyed gestures is merely an exterior trait, one that for distinguishing between the quality of the them verbally. During a Czech lesson, we were intrigues at first glance. I think that the feeling performances and, as an ardent adolescent, asked to draw up an “open letter to XY”, that of affinity was actually far deeper and, above I never missed the opportunity to trumpet my is, a publicly known figure. And in this essay, all, immediate. For my part, I did not deliberately opinions. That evening, however, I remained I wrote: “[…] Without the slightest exaggera - cultivate this influence — it simply “occurred” seated in the auditorium, all of sudden devoid tion, I can say that your performance ‘totally’ in an instant. Sometimes souls find each other of any of the juvenile criticism that I had engrossed me. I had never previously encoun - more quickly than reason is able to comprehend. disbursed until then with perhaps insufficient tered such a natural execution, fraught with Even though later on I was not spared tem - care. The performance of Schubert’s Unfinished drama and vehemence, as well as emotion porary doubts, doubts that buffet everyone

12 | martinůrevue22016 totally engrossed me…

dexterity. His body language seemed to speak volumes: Why, it simply cannot be such a prob - lem! Amid tense silence, my schoolmate and I (gladly) waited for the professor to ready himself, and then continued. I am still not sure to what extent the teacher was able to judge my conducting gestures, yet I clearly recall how delighted I was when, after finishing the sym - phony, I felt an appreciatory tap on my back and heard Jiří thunder: “Well, you are a musician indeed!” Myriad official opinions could not have outweighed the maestro’s praise, which encour - aged me, a freshman looking insecurely around, to continue to pursue the direction I had chosen. When in that very same season I miracu - lously succeeded in the Prague Spring com pe - tition, in my first-ever attempt at conducting a professional orchestra, I plucked up the courage to ask to join Jiří’s class. I still remem - Jakub Hrůša with The Czech Philharmonic during the Bohuslav Martinů Days in 2010 ber the immense gratitude I felt after being told sincerely seeking one’s own identity, I soon regained the conviction that positive and live (!) models are a sound model for an evolving young person. And this also holds true later on, in other phases of our lives, with perhaps the difference being that everything becomes more photos zdeněk chrapek photos subtle and more internal. One way or the other, having such a model before me was a great gift, serving as an extraordinary motivation, as it is put in the open letter, which is actually a “diary entry” expressed outwards. After enrolling at the Academy of Performing Arts, I didn’t have the chance to study with Jiří straightaway, but I did attend all his les - sons. I will never forget our first more personal encounter, when Mahler’s Symphony No.1 was being dealt with in the class. An extraordinary situation arose. Messrs Jaroslav Šaroun and Jiří Bělohlávek, National Theatre, Prague 2006 Tomáš Víšek, who regularly played piano four hands, had failed to arrive, and actually only three persons were present: my older school - the demarcated bass space, albeit, more or less, by Radomil Eliška, my then “form teacher”, that mate Tomáš Hanák, Jiří Bělohlávek and I. So the lacking an insight into the music, fumbling. Well, not only did he not bear a grudge but he even maestro asked me to play the piano with him. I did my utmost. It was quite touching when recommended the move. Consequently, in 2000, It was simply lovely. Both of us struggled with Jiří began sincerely fretting about having failed with his noble-minded blessing, I plunged into Mahler’s ornate and dramatic score, each in to play some of the figurations appropriately. studies in the class of my model conductor. a different way: Jiří, even though having a clear Regardless of the aspiring student, he simply musical notion, grappling with a somewhat interrupted his playing and started to practise (to be continued in the next issue) rusty piano technique, I ambitiously roaring in several passages like etudes, testing his finger

martinůrevue22016 | 13 research the shadow, H 102

/ MICHAEL CRUMP Martinů’s hopes were dashed before the end of the year. Ostrčil felt he could recommend THERE ARE PROBABLY not many pieces in neither Night nor The Shadow. His review of musical history that have received their first Night is perfunctory in the extreme, but for performances almost exactly one hundred The Shadow he wrote at greater length, sum - years after their composition. Such is the case, marising the plot of the ballet and then giving however, with Bohuslav Martinů's ballet Stín his reasons for refusing the work: (The Shadow), assigned the number H 102 The entire action of the one-act ballet is taken in Halbreich's catalogue. The manuscript is up with the following story: A girl enters a park dated Christmas 1916 and on June 1, 2016, and dances. Her mirror image (the shadow) rises The Shadow was issued as Volume 2 in Toccata from a fountain and dances with the girl. In the Classics’ CD series of Martinů's early orchestral background three dark figures appear. The middle works. Ian Hobson conducts Sinfonia Varsovia one is Death. Who the other two are, we never on this new recording, which uses material find out. The shadow dances into the arms of which I have prepared, in collaboration with Death, who covers it with a cloak and the girl falls the publisher Schott, from the error-strewn Martinů wrote to her, hoping to collaborate to the ground dead. — The girl’s dance, from her and rather confusing manuscript. The ballet when she next came to Prague. His overtures arrival to the emer gence of the shadow, comprises contains plenty of tuneful and attractive were received favourably, judging from a short 60 pages of score, with two systems on each music, yet is also prophetic; during its hour-long reply from Gzovska’s husband Vladimir Nelidov, page; the girl’s dance with the shadow, up to the span it often gives the impression that the asking Martinů to call at their hotel. However, appearance of Death is another 70 pages (again composer of Špalíček is waiting patiently in in a letter to his friend and biographer Miloš the wings. Šafránek from 1958,2 Martinů stated that he The Shadow is one of four hitherto unknown never got to meet Gzovska but merely sent her ballets which Martinů wrote before Istar, a score. Indeed, the magazine Nové ilustrované H 130, the first of his ballets to be staged listy reported in August 1914 that Gzovska had (in Prague, 1924). Two of them, Tance se závoji accepted Dances with Veils for performance, (Dances with Veils, H 93) and Koleda (Christmas and although no such performance seems to Carol, H 112), dated 1914 and 1917 respectively, have resulted, Martinů was sufficiently encour - have long been considered lost. The ballet aged to press on and complete The Shadow which survives alongside The Shadow is Noc by Christmas of 1916. (Night, H 89) from 1914, an imposing score In the years immediately following the com - which employs a very large orchestra and position of The Shadow, the anticipated support an off-stage female chorus. The Shadow, by of Gzovska was probably the best chance Mar - contrast, uses merely a chamber orchestra and tinů had of getting his two ballets performed, an off-stage soprano. Harry Halbreich observed since he had yet to make a name for himself. Olga Vladimirovna Gzovska photo: josef sudek that ‘one would hardly suspect that these This situation changed after the two highly works were conceived by the same composer successful performances of his patriotic can - with two systems on each). It is physically impos - within the space of three years’.1 It is harder tata Česká rapsodie (Czech Rhapsody, H 118) sible for anyone to dance for this long, or indeed still to believe that they were meant to form in January 1919. Perhaps tired of waiting for for anyone to watch it. […] The orchestration is part of a trilogy of one-act ballets, but such is some sign from Gzovska, or perhaps embold - simple and artless, with an excessive use of the the case. The third part was to be a dramati - ened by his success, he wrote to the head of piano and celesta. The contrast between piano zation of the painting Villa by the Sea by the the National Theatre, Karel Kovařovic, on 16 and orchestra is deployed appropriately at one Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin. Ultimately, this August 1919 to try to persuade him to mount point, […] elsewhere the sound of the piano would impulse was to produce the orchestral Ballade, a production of his ballet.3 Kovařovic did not surely evoke the trivial sound of a cheap band in H 97, probably written in the year between reply until the end of October,4 but indicated a coffeehouse. It is not possible to recommend Night and The Shadow. that he was prepared to recommend the work. this work for performance at the National The catalyst for this spurt of creativity was He further advised Martinů to be patient and Theatre.5 the Russian actress and dancer Olga Vladimi - explained that the final decision now rested It would be wrong to judge Ostrčil harshly rovna Gzovska, who first appeared as a solo with Otakar Ostrčil, recently appointed his for his negative reaction. He had to judge the artist at Prague's National Theatre in 1912. successor. work specifically as a ballet and was rightly

14 | martinůrevue22016 after one hundred years of solitude is at last in the spotlight convinced of its impracticality. Although the manuscript does contain some stage directions, many of the changes in tempo, mood and texture remain completely unmotivated by the action. The Shadow is perhaps best appreciated divorced from any dramatic concept, as an extended dance suite full of abundantly attractive and inventive music. It begins unassumingly: three notes on solo horn introduce the only occurrence of a charm - ing theme on the oboe. Soon, a soprano behind the scenes sings a melody — similar to the third movement of Beethoven's piano trio Op.70, No.2. The solo dancer enters, playing with a ball and listening to the song. Several of the harmonic touches here recall Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, but as the girl starts to dance, one hears more and more material that reminds one of the later Martinů. The Cinderella music from the ballet Špalíček, H 214, and Popelka's aria from the opera Comedy on the Bridge, H 249, can both trace their Bohuslav Martinů in 1919, Polička parentage back to this music. The tender Lento which eventually emerges is an early atic, an attractive concert suite could easily a chamber setting. This feature, of course, example of that mastery of glowing string be produced from the march, minuet, jig and attracted the most scathing criticism from textures which was to serve Martinů so well in Mozartian Allegro that lead up to the final Ostrčil, but would be encountered again his symphonies. As the girl continues dancing, pages, where the main ‘action’ of the ballet and again in Martinů’s work in the following the music advances through a harmonically is presented in highly compressed form. After decades. The Shadow surely has more than complex waltz in B major (where Strauss again that final catastrophe, the soprano sings again, merely documentary value — for all its wanton looms large), then builds impressively before now at a considerable distance, and soft string impracticality and occasionally awkward coming to an abrupt stop about half-way chords of A major bring the ballet to a close. orchestration, it contains a wealth of attractive through the ballet: the girl has dropped her ball In later life, Martinů had nothing good to say ideas which have remained concealed for far into the fountain and is about to meet the of this youthful piece. In letters written in 1958 too long. ❚ ‘shadow’ (her own reflection). to Šafránek,6 reviewing a draft of his friend‘s As the reflection rises from the water, music second biography, he wrote: This article is adapted from the booklet essay from the earliest stages of the ballet is freely You perhaps place too much weight on those accompanying the CD release of The Shadow (TOCC 0249) and is reproduced with repeated. It will be heard again in a new guise early works, like The Shadow and other things, the kind permission of Toccata Classics. when both girl and 'shadow' meet their fates. which are surely just a phase and more like From the mid-point onwards, The Shadow training exercises. […] In short, The Shadow is becomes largely a sequence of self-contained a weak apprentice work and I wouldn’t write 1 Bohuslav Martinů: Werkverzeichnis und Biografie, Schott, Mainz, 2007, p. 197. numbers, each prefaced by a short passage of about it at all. […]. You spend too much time 2 Held at the Bohuslav Martinů Centre in Polička, catalogue unrelated material. There are no stage indica - on things which really don’t have any great number PBM Kmš 872. tions for over a thousand bars — the girl and significance. They are transitional and hap hazard 3 Šafránek, Divadlo Bohuslava Martinů, Editio Supraphon the 'shadow' simply dance their way through — the work of a student reacting to every Praha, Prague, 1979, p. 121. Martinů does not name the a succession of different tempi and textures. stimulus he encounters. ballet, but refers to his ‘little work’ — far more likely to be The Shadow than Night. As drama or spectacle, this part of the ballet Those who become acquainted with The 4 Held at the Bohuslav Martinů Centre in Polička. is ridiculously over-extended, but in compensa - Shadow may feel that Martinů’s judgement 5 The whole document is reproduced in Šafránek, op. cit., tion it contains some of the most attractive of it was harsh. Halbreich feels that it marks p. 119. music that the score has to offer. Given that an important stage in the composer‘s devel - 6 PBM Kmš 872 (loc. cit.). a staging of the whole ballet would be problem - opment, especially in its use of the piano in

martinůrevue22016 | 15 …with tomáš jamník interview the dvořák trio was brought together by the bohuslav martinů competition

/ ANNA MATOUŠKOVÁ

At the time we met, he had just given a per - formance in the UK of Schumann’s cello concerto, conducted by Jakub Hrůša, finished a season in Japan, and returned to Prague from photo: zdeněk chrapek photo:

Berlin, where he had missed a bus. I caught the y renowned Czech cellist Tomáš Jamník, a Prague Spring laureate, prior to his appear ance at a concert on Wenceslas Square. At the Lucerna café, we talked about his beginnings, successes and disappointments, his variegated artistic activities, about competitions, and about how we are learning to listen to music anew.

Tomáš, what do you actually like playing the most? photo: marek novotný photo:

More contemporary music, which ironically makes x me feel more at ease. The older the music, the Trio Concertino (now The Dvořák Trio) at the Bohuslav Martinů Competition in 2004 more I struggle with it. I strive to grasp all the aspects of authenticity and the period, as it is not approach works by Schumann, Brahms or Dvořák, new logic… In the 20th century, actually starting in my nature to take a piece by, for instance, and comprehend their context. The way in which at the end of the 19th, musicians had a penchant Schumann and simply play it. I must know the to interpret them, to pass them on to today’s for adding octaves, flageolets, resolutions, and the context within which it was written, and for audiences. The performers act as translators of like to old compositions. Serving as a prime exam - whom, for what purpose it was written, because the composer’s idea, they have to take it and ple in this respect is an old edition of a Haydn I think that the greatest power of classical music translate it. If I put in it something of my own, cello concerto, with wantonly modified harmonies, rests in that which is concealed behind it… The it is the same as when a translator inserts his/her whole passages even. Today, we may find it rather theatre in the foreground is nice, it allures audi - ideas and fantasies in the novel being translated. quaint, yet at the time the most likely problem ences. But I particularly enjoy the moment when Another aspect is that the music must be trans - was that the audience was not yet ready to em - people realise that they are hearing something lated in a way that is comprehensible to the con - brace the music in the way it was actually written. that has been here for centuries. And while Bohu - temporary listener, much like updating Shakes - It is wonderful that today people have an appetite slav Martinů’s music is not yet excessively bur - peare for today’s reader. There are new instru - for hearing music precisely in that manner. On the dened by tradition, I think that in two centuries’ ments, anew psychology of the world and its other hand, it is wrong to remain entrapped in time we will look at it quite differently. I’m not using Martinů as a random example: he has long been my personal favourite. But I gradually seek to explore less frequently performed music. At the the tale of a corrected note moment, I am discovering Paul Hindemith and Arvo Pärt. What is more, each season I have / TOMÁŠ JAMNÍK tion — let us say that included new pieces in my repertoire, preferably it was the E in the IT HAPPENED four years ago, when I was studying cellos and the F in those written for me (laughs). in Berlin as a scholar of the Karajan Academy and the double-basses. was afforded the opportunity to play with the In the subsequent What is the difference when it comes to per - Berliner Philharmoniker. I was pleased whenever debate, the musicians forming older and newer music? I personally the renowned orchestra included Czech works took two different have always found contem porary art music in its programme, particularly those by Bohuslav stances — one group Martinů. In June 2012, they chose to perform Mar - strictly adhered to more complex as regards melody and rhythm. tinů’s second violin concerto, conducted by Mariss the notation, the Contemporary music endeavours to stretch the Jansons, with Frank-Peter Zimmermann as soloist. other simply could technical possibilities of instruments, to shift the During the rehearsals, disputable passages were not cope with the limits of perceiving music, which is closely related discovered in the score, where dynamics and second, find ing it to the complexity of the score. But writing a score articulation were often open to debate. One place unbearable to the was completely tangled: the cello and the double- ear. Hoping to settle the disagreement, they asked is simple. It is a manual matter, which you can bass parts contained minor second intervals that the conductor, but he did not have the answer, and learn, just as you can learn how to carve some - may have been correct, but were likely erroneous. thus failed to resolve the situation. Nevertheless, thing from wood. For me, it is more difficult to I no longer precisely remember the notes in ques - a decision had to be taken, and the ultimate verdict

16 | martinůrevue22016 is always the key factor with competitions, as times in a row. I am trained to perceive it and just mere hard work may totally swallow you up and can’t ignore it. When it comes to interpretation, discourage. Ever since I was a child, my parents one should be restrained. Not that you should have always motivated me by something, which kowtow to the jury and conceal your opinion, but now, in retrospect, I consider to have been of you have to acknowledge that you simply cannot great importance. Prior to my very first competi - put so much of yourself into the performance. tion, when I was very, very young, my motivation Today, there are many superb, singular musicians was a camera. At the time, it was a big deal, so producing a singular sound or tone, yet they may I diligently rehearsed, with a photo of the camera come across as overly exotic at a competition. displayed in front of me. Then I won the competi - The jury thus finds it difficult to mark them, as tion. But I did not receive the camera; there were they don’t conform to the prescribed criteria. several first prizes and the terms did not specify It is then very hard to evaluate them. that the winners of all the categories would not get the camera. Well, it was a great disappoint - Did you then have to keep a low profile ment, and I burst into tears right there, on the at competitions? stage (laughs)! Yet the chairman of the jury, My tactic was to not totally go under, but to take Profes sor Petráš, took pity on me and bought me the boldest way, which entailed focusing on per - the camera. And before the Martinů Competition, fect intonation, unwaveringly convincing tone, I chose a mobile phone. It half functioned as a sort of showcasing. If I were asked by someone a games console, it supported 3D graphics, it was to give advice on how to succeed in a competition, possible to play FIFA on it. The telephone’s price I would recommend perfect preparation in terms was equal to the competition’s prize money. of intonation. As regards interpretation — in the A great motivation indeed! spring there was a heated debate concerning Anne-Sophie Mutter, who had performed a Dvořák Tomáš Jamník What do music competitions represent concerto in Prague. Sometime previously, I had for you? heard her in Berlin, where she too was criticised An agreement between musicians, who get by some, while others were enthusiastic about mere interpretation and theory. I can observe this together and clearly say to themselves: let’s go her. The two groups viewed her account in totally with myself too — sometimes I am absorbed in for it. A union of young musicians, whose perfor - different ways. In Prague, she was quite severely theory and, as a result, when I am on stage, I am mances are objectively assessed by a jury of upbraided, yet people did not see why. Her per - not able to mediate the impulses that were there seasoned experts. There aren’t that many objec - form ance was amazing and, most significantly, the in the past. At that time, they did not speculate tive elements to assess, with intonation being the audience roared! That, however, means nothing. about it: they played the music in the contem - first and foremost. Then there is imbalance, or That the audience gives someone a standing porary way, highly instinctively, and, quite likely, vacillation, in time, for instance. Actual perform - ovation, that there is a nice atmosphere in the they improvised, and this aspect simply has to be ance is more or less a subjective matter. Into na - hall, does not necessarily have to have anything in it today. It is, in fact, an insane task. tion is the most essential aspect, which some - in common with whether the piece has been times even degrades the perception of music. So interpreted in the right way. I myself truly admire How do you recall the Bohuslav Martinů everyone pursues the goal of perfect intonation. Anne-Sophie Mutter and consider her an extra - Competition? Unfortunately, I have observed this tendency with ordinary musician, yet when it comes to inter - Very fondly indeed — I bought a phone with the myself too — I get really annoyed when someone pretation, it is not entirely my cup of tea. prize money (laughs)! But seriously — motivation sits down and plays something out of tune three Nonetheless, she is an astonishing figure.

was to abide by the score. Some of my colleagues, that the issue wasn’t at all easy to resolve — the overture of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, I rumi - however, could not make their peace with it, so autograph showed both of the possibilities. But he nated over whether I could have done something I promised to ask the most competent authorities. wouldn’t give up and would seek further. A few better, yet I knew that the musicologist and I really The resolve to abide by the notation was taken at hours later, he called me again, this time announc- had done our best. Then we started to play Mar - the final morning rehearsal, just a few hours prior ing that he had cracked it — another autograph tinů’s violin concerto. I was awaiting the incrimi - to the first performance. I found the telephone source, a piano reduction, clearly revealed that the nating passage as though an execution. Just a few number of the Bohuslav Martinů Institute but, as it minor second was wrong and that it should be one seconds… three, two, one… and lo! The cello and was a Friday afternoon, I wasn’t overly expectant and the same note. I thanked him warmly, put down double-bass sections rang with a single note, in an that any musicologist would be there to pick up the the phone and looked at my watch — just an hour absolute and wonderful intonational symbiosis! phone. left prior to the beginning of the concert! So I took I was so startled that my bow almost fell out of my Yet pick it up one did! On the other end of the off and rushed to convey the news to the orchestra. hand. I glanced over at the double-bass concert line, I heard a young male voice asking how he That which followed, I remember only vaguely, master who, just as inconspicuously, winked at me. could assist me. I explained the problem and the rather like a film speeded up. I ran into the double- It had turned out well! He had made it! two of us agreed that the situation was serious. The bassists’ dressing room and sought out their con - The music flew on by, yet my mind was up in the young musicologist, Marek Pechač, promised to try cert master. In one breath, I told him about the clouds. There… somewhere with Bohuslav himself, to seek out all the available materials and provide inaccuracy identified in the part. The concert who may well have been delighted by our heroic the right answer as soon as possible. In the mean- master wrung his hands and exclaimed with horror: deed, perhaps even given a chuckle. time, I went home so as to prepare myself for the “Too late! The concert will start in a few minutes!” concert and thoroughly warm up. About an hour I felt frustrated. All my efforts had been to no avail. Written by Tomáš Jamník on the occasion later, my phone rang. Marek Pechač told me that he Low-spirited, I returned to my dressing room. Heart - of the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary had delved into the first part of the sources, adding broken, soon after I went on stage. Throughout the of the Bohuslav Martinů Institute (1995–2015)

martinůrevue22016 | 17 The Supraphon CD you recorded with Ivo Kahá - nek was branded by Harmonie magazine as the dido and gilgamesh: “debut of the decade”. Last year, Ivo Kahánek sat on the jury of the Bohuslav Martinů Foun - review it’s dramatic, dation Competition. How did you get together? We were introduced to one another by the violinist haunting me in my sleep Jan Fišer, who had just returned from his studies in the US and wanted to work within a piano trio. / MICHAELA VOSTŘELOVÁ sorrow and, worse, a desperate fear of mortality At the time, he and Ivo Kahánek were already per - and the obscurity that follows. Although The Epic forming together, but they were seeking a cellist THE PROGRAMME of the forthcoming opera sea - of Gilgamesh was not written with staging in to join them. Jan’s father taught at the grammar son of the National Theatre in Brno is agree ably mind, Martinů did express certain requirements school where I studied, so he mentioned my name. bold, and its current season too was rounded off with regard to the scenic component, not want - One of the reasons might have been my success with a certain measure of dra matur gical liberty ing the singers to stand inertly but to produce at the Martinů Com peti tion. So the guys put me and a sound self-confidence. Within a single allusive gestures, com municating with one through my paces — at the time, I addressed evening, the final premiere coupled a work that is another, with the chorus reshuffling. […] them by their surnames, as they struck me as neither an opera, nor a cantata — nor an oratorio […] I was truly enraptured by the performance being much older than me. We hit it off immedi - for that matter — with a Baroque opera. “It’s given by the orchestra, conducted by Marko ately and began playing together. One of our simply an epic,” said Bohuslav Martinů of one of Ivanović, and the choir, under the chorus master first aims was to participate in the Martinů Com - his greatest works, the one-hour-long opus for Pavel Koňárek. Ivanović conceived the score as peti tion in the chamber music category. So we narrator, solos, chorus and orchestra The Epic of a great drama in bright colours, as a pathos that were actually brought together by the Martinů Gilgamesh, which constituted the first half of the does not stifle but invigorates. Many a time, he competition. night. The second half consisted of Henry Purcell’s embraced slow tempos, which, in my opinion, opera Dido and Aeneas, which has been per formed when compared with the existing recordings, What it is like performing Martinů’s music to an more frequently on concert stages and which is revealed new dimensions of Martinů’s piece. audience who may still harbour some doubts? nowadays expected to be undertaken by special - Ivanović sharpened the contrasts, enhanced I also have in mind your home concert series, ists in early music. the drama by means of emphatic articulation, Serious Interest. Can you imagine visiting the The two seemingly incongruous works do not and made the lyrical passages simple and bare. uninitiated and playing Martinů to them? actually make an incoherent pair. […] The core The baritone Jiří Hájek portrayed the lead role Martinů’s music is amazing for home music-mak - subject matter of both of them is death and the majes tically, while all the other singers, David ing! Let’s take the flute trio, for instance. I can loss of a beloved person — themes based on Nykl, Václav Čížek and Andrea Široká, splendidly very well imagine playing it in a garden, at four on Ancient mythology. Nonetheless, the question performed their parts in line with the oratorio a Sun day afternoon, with people listening to the remains whether two weighty and formally vocal style. As a whole, The Epic of Gilgamesh won derful flute solo. Within the home concerts unique pieces can be combined in a single cogent came across with incredible intensity. project, we aim to make people realise what the production? And if so, in what order should they “It’s dramatic, haunting me in my sleep,” Mar - concert hall stands for. We are so accustomed to be performed? tinů commented on his work on the Babylonian the every day ritual, to the hurtling of the metro, The stage director Jiří Heřman opted for the mystery. Upon seeing the Brno production, you to planes taking off and landing, and the like, that Epic — Dido sequence; accordingly, the first half may well say the same […] we no longer regard it as out of the ordinary. And featured the Old Babylonian rite of passage that it is the same in the case of the concert hall. We brings Gilgamesh, the ruler of the city of Uruk, to Reprinted from the musical magazine Harmonie have be come so used to attending concerts that Enkidu. The death of Enkidu arouses in Gilgamesh No.6/2016, with their kind permission, abridged we no longer understand that it actually concerns a gath ering of people, which is avery delicate context. A concert should be about all the people there being actively present in the right sense of an elaborate premiere in brno: the word. gilgamesh and dido, an odd couple indeed What is awaiting you in the near future? In the season 2016/2017, I am scheduled to appear at some exciting concerts and face new / OLGA JANÁČKOVÁ scenography links the performance space and the challenges in the form of new repertoire pieces. elevated orchestra pit, which is accessible from I will play Bohuslav Martinů’s second cello con - […] THE LARGE, open, wide stage at the Janáček the stage. The dominant colour is white, another, certo, and I will give my first performance of Theatre in Brno; the expanded sets, designed by anticipated, space is on the left side and in the Dmitry Shosta kovich’s wonderful Concerto for Dragan Stojčevski. Love, friendship, the im mor - background of the stage. On the left, a stairway Cello and Orchestra No. 1. Furthermore, I’ll keep tality of God and the mortality of man. Perpetual into the rooms of a multi-storey Shakespearean on pre sent ing contem porary music, so Ihave oscillation between the positive and the negative, setting; in the rear, a wide flight of steps leading been in ever closer contact with composers, joy and despair; ruminations about the sense of to a closed, semi-transparent wall. […] “hatching plots”. Of late, I have been working existence, about that which is inessential and […] The choir and the orchestra clad in black, with the Bären reiter publisher. New titles should that without which life cannot be. The particular conducted by Marko Ivanović, in grey (the cos - appear soon on which I will co-oper ate to varying form of the playing field, fixed into the entirely tumes designed by Alexandra Grusková), who degrees. ❚ specific architecture of the Janáček Theatre. The presents the music of The Epic of Gilgamesh

18 | martinůrevue22016 [ 1 ] [ 2 ]

[ 1 ] Jakub Liška (Enkidu – Dancer) [ 2 ] Kateřina Kněžíková (courtesan), Václav Čížek (Enkidu) [ 3 ] Jiří Brückler (Gilgamesh) [ 4 ] Jan Březina (Hunter)

consistently with the composer’s idiom. Ivanović’s account of Martinů’s piece is breezy, compact, dramatic, passionate, and tragic in the pure, linear even, full sound of the orchestra, choir and soloists. The charismatic Gilgamesh is portrayed by the engrossing baritone Jiří Hájek, Enkidu by [ 3 ] the bass David Nykl and the tenor Václav Čížek, the lyrical soprano of Andrea Široká. The musi cally [ 4 ] and expressively communicative choir, demon - strating impeccable intonation, was led by the chorus master Pavel Koňárek. And all in well co-ordinated, precisely phrased choreography by Jan Kodet. […] […] The dramaturgical pairing of the oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Baroque opera Dido and Aeneas is innovative indeed. Dido itself con - tains the contrastive form of the quasi-comical intermezzo that used to be placed between the acts of tragic operas and was recast into the wonderful concluding elegy of Dido’s aria and the chorus, as though being a return to the world of tragic opera. This harks back to The Epic of Gilgamesh and the immensely emotional farewell to someone who is no more. All this imaginatively interwoven in the dramaturgy and staging. Heřman’s inner theme […]

The article is reproduced from the internet portal Opera Plus — www.operaplus.cz, abridged

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