czech music

6 | 2003 bimonthly magazine

Magdalena Kožená

Václav Talich Michal Rataj The Czech Music Fund Music Materials Hire Library

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editorial Contents 2003

The title page of this issue belongs to the singer Magdalena Kožená, who is Page 2 Magdalena, You’re a Devil! one of the most internationally An interview with Magdalena Kožená successful Czech artists today. Conductor Václav Talich was an LUBOŠ STEHLÍK important figure for Czech music and 6 his legacy should not be forgotten. We bring you an article summing his life and work and another text about his Page 6 Václav Talich: A Man Can Work under recordings, which preserve his mastery for us and for next generation. When Any Circumstances talking about generation, we should not JINDŘICH BÁLEK, PETR KADLEC forget to introduce some younger artist. This time it is young composer Michal Rataj, who is active in the field of electronic (but not only) music and also brings new music to the listeners of Page 9 The Talich Archive Czech Radio. From the next issue, Czech Music will BOHUSLAV BÍLEK be slightly different. Instead of six thin magazines, you will get four thicker, so the amount of pages will be unchanged. This will allow us to bring you longer Page 12 The Electronic Worlds of Michal Rataj and more in-depth texts and essays on different topics. You will also find a new TEREZA HAVELKOVÁ attachment called Profiles. Here we will introduce you some composers, who were important for development of Czech musical culture, but who are less known in the world. This year we will Page 14 A Marathon of Variegated Music start with those, whose round MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL anniversary falls on this year, which was proclaimed “The Year of Czech Music”. Page 16 CD Review

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL EDITOR

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 Czech Republic, 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: Š. Kasskara/Deutsche Grammophone (p. 2-5, cover), phone: ++420 2 57312422 Karel Šuster (p. 14-15), Muzeum Českého krasu, Beroun (p. 6-11) and archives e-mail: [email protected] DTP: HD EDIT, Print: Tobola http://www.musica.cz ISSN 1211-0264 The subscription fee is 25 for Europe, $ 30 for overseas countries, or respective equivalents. LUBOŠ STEHLÍK magdalena,

I doubt that I need to introduce MAGDALENA KOŽENÁ to any- one. She is the most success- ful Czech musician in the world and records at least two CDs annually for a top company, something her competitors must certainly envy here in the current crisis of the recording industry. In the late summer she brought out a French album, she triumphed at the Prague Castle at the Strings of Autumn Festival, in November she made her debut at the New York Met, in January she will be singing in the Carnegie Hall, next year there will be two new recording projects and on the 2nd of June she should be hav- ing a recital at the Prague Spring. Shortly before her departure from the Czech Republic she gave us an inter- view.

At your September concert in Prague It was a combination of several things. In the You’ve already worked on several won- Castle the French ambassador present- past I have done a lot of French music, main- derful projects with Minkowski, and he ed you with a high state honour of the ly songs, and have tried to penetrate the must be a good friend of yours, but he French Republic. How does it feel to be mysteries of the French language. For sever- is a conductor, after all, and conductors a Chevalier de l’Art? al years now I have been working with Marc like to dominate… I can’t quite get used to it, and I was very Minkowski and I have many friends in I was a little worried about that, because like much surprised, because these sorts of France. I and the people from Deutsche every conductor he has his own ego and medals are given for lifelong achievements. Grammophon agreed that since the previous accompanying a singer on a recording isn’t Well, perhaps not always, since I was told disc had been as it were a “Prague” collec- something pleasant for a conductor, because that I was the youngest knight. Since one tion, then this one could be French; it is he simply has to keep in the background. can’t speak of lifelong achievements in my music that suits me and I wanted to devote Then the best that people say about it is that case, for me it mainly means an obligation to even more time to French music than before. the conductor has supported the soloist well, do even more in the future. Perhaps they and that’s usually all. At that point every good partly gave it in the hope that I will carry on Was it clear from the beginning that conductor has the feeling that life is short in the right direction. you would work with Marc Minkowski? and he ought to be doing something else. At Well, as you know, they (Note: the manage- the beginning it really was like that. And You have a close relationship with ment of Deutsche Grammophon) try to there’s yet another problem with Minkowski, France not only because your husband ensure that one recording of mine with which is that he hates recording in a studio is French but also because of your affin- orchestra comes out every year. It’s more and does his best to avoid it. He does live ity for French culture. What part did that expensive, but it sells better than smaller recordings. Naturally there are then some play when you decided on the form of scale work. And so when it was clear what corrections, although there were none with your last project, which is completely kind of album this one was going to be, Marc Giulius Cesar, but otherwise the recording is French from repertoire to conductor? Minkowski was the only possible conductor. taken from one of two performances and the

2 | interview | czech music 6 | 2003 you’re a devil!

final rehearsal. In this case he had to admit bly wouldn’t say no. But in view of my itiner- that you can’t record 14 opera arias live. He ary it still couldn’t happen for another four or had to accept that there wouldn’t be an audi- five years. ence and it was a situation that frightened him. The choice of music on the CD is very diverse. Are they numbers that you What was it like working with the have really fallen in love with? Mahler Chamber Orchestra? There are some things I would really like to It’s an excellent orchestra. Basically all the sing on the stage. One of them is members are about the same age as me, Massenet’s Cinderella, which is rarely staged they have huge enthusiasm and they really and the whole opera is beautiful. I’m also ter- enjoy the music. Just like conductors, ribly fond of the arias of Cleopatra. From the orchestras don’t like doing records in which stage point of view I’m very tempted by Rav- they are just accompanying singers, because el’s The Spanish Hour. He is one of my they don’t get to really play to the full, they favourite composers, and the acting style of feel pushed into the background and the the work and recitative mode of singing, whole advertising campaign is based on the which I enjoy, are close to my heart. singer. But in the end it went very well and even Minkowski, who as I’ve said doesn’t like At Easter this year you will be working doing this sort of thing, gritted his teeth at for the first time with Cecilia Bartoli in first and did it because he liked me. It went Salzburg. Although you are very differ- well – it had to, since companies today can’t ent as types, you are often seen as afford to make a CD with an orchestra every competitors in the field of Baroque and week. Classical music. Are you worried that there might be tension? Did you make the choice? What I’m very much looking forward to it. I’ve only couldn’t you find space for? ever talked to Cecilia once, in London. She is I was keen on plenty of Gounods, some very pleasant and natural and it’s the man- Offenbachs, Le roi d'Ys by Edouard Lalo… agers buzzing around her who turn her into It was mainly me who actually made the an awesome wonder. I didn’t get the feeling choice, Minkowski made various sugges- that she would feel threatened by me, or that tions, and sometimes there was a compro- we would somehow necessarily have to mise. In the end I was pleased that he compete. What is more, Cosi fan tutte has no pushed me to the Eboli, for example, which leading soloist. All six characters are equal, was the one I resisted the hardest. He con- and the point isn’t to be star of the evening. vinced me that in the French version it is I hope this performance will be based on our a sort of popular Spanish song, and the col- all enjoying the meeting and having fun oraturas in it need a lighter voice. I gave in – together. I expect it will be like with Simon Idomeneo that we did in Glyndebourne in at the end of the day it may be the first and Rattle, who just enjoys music and whose Lucerne and Berlin and we shall be repeat- last Verdi in my life… And so I had quite guiding principle is the incredible power that ing it again in the Spring in Salzburg. We also a ball with it. Another of his ideas was Car- he draws from music, with every other con- plan to do Sheherazade in Berlin, to do a tour men. He convinced my that the first Carmen sideration taking a back seat. When with his ensemble of period instruments the was actually a soprano, that it was written for he’s around there is no place for star scenes. Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Opera Comique and not for the Opera When I was with him in the summer in Glyn- put on Rameau’s opera Hippolite et Aricie. To Bastille and that today’s idea of a Carmen debourne, the atmosphere there was incredi- be frank, I don’t know a better conductor with a deepthroated, darker voice is com- bly ordinary and sincere, and there was none today. pletely different from what Bizet had in mind. of the tension you often find at festivals or And so I thought, why not? Why not do it dif- opera productions. So what I expect from You’ve also worked with Nikolaus ferently? Salzburg is mainly pleasure in music-making Harnoncourt. How do you see the two and I’m curious how it will work out because conductors? Will you sing the whole role of Carmen our voices really are very different. I’m curi- It’s hard to compare Harnoncourt and Rattle. some time? ous what will arise from the combination of They are geniuses, who have a rather differ- Singing Carmen is every different kinds of energy. ent way of expressing themselves and differ- mezzosoprano’s dream, since the role is ent temperaments. Harnoncourt is more worth it, and I don’t think I shall be any differ- You have just mentioned the summer musicological, he has very definite views and ent. If the conductor was someone who with Simon Rattle. After Gardiner and not everyone agrees with him. I too have felt would work with my conception of the role Harnoncourt he is another of the con- that I would like to do something differently, and not push me into a traditional Carmen, ducting giants of today. What plans but the force of his personality and his own and if it was with a good orchestra and in does he have with you? conviction persuades you. Perhaps in later more chamber-style conditions, then I proba- We gave concert performances of the productions people go back to their own

czech music 6 | 2003 | interview | 3 ideas, but at the time when he persuades It will be a great mixture of languages and Apart from the French album, this year me, I know why I’m doing it his way. instrumental settings. From Shostakovich’s saw the release of the remarkable Cleopatra It’s a strange magical feeling. If I have some- Russian Satires, which have been sung only recording of Handel’s opera . one I trust and admire beside me, then I’m once – by Vishnyevska, for whom they were Is it really live? willing to change things that I feel differently written, to Britten’s English Lullabies, the I am very proud of it. We only used two con- about. This is because I think music can be German Songs for Violin, Voice and Piano by certs for the recording (there’s not usually done in many ways and there is not just one Erwin Schulhoff [it will be the first Schulhoff money for recording operas today) and correct path. And so I have no problems try- in the DG catalogue – note LS], the Il tra- between them we only re-recorded the ing something a different way. Quite the monto from the Italian Respighi for string beginnings and ends, to get rid of the reverse in fact. I enjoy trying something out. quartet and mezzosoprano to the French applause. And even though we recorded My work with Harnoncourt was enriching, for Songs of Madagascar by Ravel for cello, both operas, there are no cuts inside the example I learned a lot on the theoretical flute, voice and piano. I’m pleased that the numbers and we just chose the best version side. What most catches your attention are cellist will be Jiří Bárta. of each number. What’s more, it was an his eyes, he actually conducts with his eyes experiment for me, because it was my first. – he looks and the person knows what he How did you manage to get the The beginning was at eight, and the tough- must do. Simon Rattle is very impulsive and Deutsche Grammophon managers to est aria came at around midnight. After six for him music comes more from emotion take him on? performances and four hours I really had to than the rational study of books. He has I just said that he was going to play on the concentrate to the utmost to make sure that immeasurably positive energy and he puts record. I lent them his Dvořák album and the recording should be the best possible. It a great deal of trust in the people he has then there was nothing to discuss. Jiří Bárta was a kind of Olympic games with two chosen, leaving them a lot of freedom too. has a superb tone and expression and any- chances. Otherwise I had a fabulous time, It’s all a matter of real co-operation, not the one with even a little understanding of the because the role of Cleopatra has so many usual model – I’m the conductor, I have the music can see it at once. different levels, from soubrette flirt through idea and everyone else is supposed to fulfil transformation into a woman in love to vocal it. In the end he gets what he wants as well, Generally it must take a lot of obstina- gymnastics. I recorded the French album just but in a completely unforced way. Both con- cy to get agreement for a record with a week after the Cleopatra tour, and I won- ductors are rare people, in artistic and such a selection of songs… dered whether I would manage it because it human terms. Unlike some of their col- I’m not the type to make scenes to get what was on the limits of human possibilities. After leagues they don’t use conducting as an I want. I’ve been talking about the that I was sick for three weeks. I wouldn’t instrument of power. Shostakovich and Britten for several years want to do such crazy things too often. now, but it’s only now that it’s come off. The Why does Rattle conduct an orchestra simple fact is that when you record a CD You have taken on the patronage of playing on copies of period instru- with an orchestra that sells well, occasionally Czech Dreams 2004? What do you ments as well as normal symphony you can afford a rather non-commercial proj- hope for from the event? orchestras? ect. Nobody expects this record to sell hun- I very much hope it will work out as the There’s no contradiction. On the contrary, dreds of thousands of copies. Sometimes organisers want. I welcome every attempt to when he is conducting his period instrument you are forced to make compromises. promote Czech music and I am pleased that orchestra, he very frequently talks about jazz, Czech centres abroad have become involved. which he loves. I agree with him that Baroque And so this was a kind of reward? Meeting people outside the country I always music approaches jazz in its greater freedom, Yes, I’ve earned my reward. I couldn’t say that discover a great admiration for Czech music. improvisation. For example in the phrasing he I’d actually been suffering before, but this Those people are open to deeper knowledge says he wants us to do some appoggiaturas CD will be a sort of cherry on the cake. of our music, and what Czech Dreams should like Billy Holiday, which means before the rel- It’s music that I love. offer is precisely some lesser known com- evant bar. Historians might say it was almost posers alongside the great classics. I get the in bad taste, but with him it isn’t disruptive of Perhaps it means that your position feeling that the general trend, in the record- the drive of the music. You ought to fit into with Deutsche Grammophon is now so ing industry for example, is for people to buy the bar, as it were, and the tempo shouldn’t strong that you can record what you interesting, lesser known music and not change, but within individual bars a performer like. always the same old Beethoven symphonies can move and speak with the music accord- That’s more or less true. We have thought up and Mozart arias. A few years ago when ing to his or her emotions. There was a huge several projects and now we’re trying to I recorded the album Mozart – Gluck – Mys- freedom not only in the recitatives but also in choose the commercial project that will be liveček, everyone asked about Mysliveček the arias we have done together. He often a payment for the cherries in my plan. and Mozart didn’t interest them much. People said to me: “At these points we have to meet I should touch wood, but at the moment I’m are avid for new things, and so they expect up, but otherwise you can do what you like.” lucky in being almost the most recorded new things from Czech Dreams as well as That is a wonderful thing and one I have female singer. Because I also sing earlier other events. Of course, for someone abroad encountered only very rarely. With Simon Rat- music and the company has its Archiv series, the New World Symphony could be a discov- tle I’m not bound by any strict rules, and that then instead of one CD there are at least ery, but we should be thankful for every soul suits me. two every year, which is exceptional these gained for classical music. days. Of course it means a lot of work, not This year the French album will be fol- just musical, but also company promotion How has Magdalena Kožená changed lowed by a song recital. Will it be non- including “promodays” when I spend the since the period of the legendary Bach traditional again, like the Martinů with whole day giving interviews for example. recordings? the Dvořák?

4 | interview | czech music 6 | 2003 I’ve certainly changed. I wouldn’t say that I was an absolute rebel, but I was never an industrious student, and more a sort of orig- inal. I was always interested in what I sensed in the music, and I didn’t let anyone else get much of a word in. I don’t know if I can express it precisely, but today I’ve matured to the view that music is what you want to say with it. I am fundamentally less restricted by views around me on how it ought to sound. You must live your own life somehow and then you must somehow project it into your role on the stage, and you must transmit something to people, or at least try. That is my mission. People should leave a concert with some new feel- ing or idea. In Baroque music I’ve freed myself more from views on how it ought to be authentic. I may sound cruel, but in fact that no longer interests me much. The prior- ity for me is feeling, emotion, what it is that music gives human beings.

In the context of Ravel you talk about how it is like singing pictures. Is that something that could be generalised as your musical philosophy? In a way, yes. Of course sometimes it is the text that is more central, and at other times the expression of colours, moods, pictures. At all events, for me it isn’t a question of cre- ating beautiful notes. Unfortunately many singers cannot get free of the idea and for them the most important thing is to have a well settled voice, to sing technically cor- rectly and to make beautiful notes. But that is just the foundation. The singer must then know how to produce ugly notes as well, he must know why, and what for, and must learn the art of exploiting them. Art isn’t just beau- tiful images, and life isn’t just beautiful. When sings other repertoire. I’m not afraid of that, I gather your grandfather, who is 87, you listen to Anja Silja, it isn’t beautiful, but since I like change. came to your September concert in something meaningful is happening there. Prague Castle… There must always be a meaning, otherwise Over seven years you have become an It was magic. My grandmother, who died in it wouldn’t be interesting for me, even if it international star. Some enthusiastic March, had heart problems and identified were beautiful. fans take it as far as falling in platonic tremendously with my career. She had once love with you. Do you have any defence wanted to be an actress, but hadn’t managed Recently I read that your voice was against fame, and is it changing your it, and so she saw herself in it all, a little. But once translucent and now it is opulent. view of the world and values in life? throughout my career she couldn’t come to What is your voice like? I’ve had to learn to keep a certain distance. my concerts, because the emotion might I have never had a feeling of translucency. Naturally I get into situations where the loss have been too much for her heart. And Naturally people mature, usually for the bet- of privacy is unpleasant. Fortunately in clas- granddad stayed at home to show solidarity ter, which is a good thing. What frightens me sical music the problem isn’t as serious as in with her. That’s why it was only now that he is that one day I might reach a point when it pop. I can’t imagine the kind of life Madonna first came to a concert of mine, and for me it would start going down hill. At the beginning must lead, for example, or a famous foot- was a terribly important and marvellous I was bothered by self-doubt, but today I’m baller. For me it would be unbearable. But moment. He was terrifically moved and after somewhere else and tackling other things. when I go out into the streets of London, the concert he said, “Magdalena, you’re Voices simply change, and in another ten maybe a couple of people who go to con- a devil,” which made me laugh. years for example I may not be able to sing certs recognise me, but otherwise I do as coloratura and Baroque repertoire. My voice I like. I feel best, of course, when I’m with old will be heavier and “more opulent”, but why friends and we talk about cooking, about my not? One of the beautiful aspects of singing friends’ children and completely ordinary is precisely the way the voice develops, and things. Used by permission of Harmonie magazine.

czech music 6 | 2003 | interview | 5 václav talich: a man can work under any circumstances

Václav Talich is to Czech performance what Smetana or Dvořák is to Czech composing. He took the great tradition of Czech 19th-century music and gave it the shape that remains modern to this day. When we look at his activity in the Czech Philharmonic, the National Opera and elsewhere, we soon realise that he was perhaps the most hardworking of Czech musicians – and especially abroad he was often compared with the greatest conductors of his time. For that reason alone (although there are many others), he is a figure worth attention. The course and meaning of his life, however, far transcends the field of music, since his destiny, like that of all great artists, sets up a mirror to the age in which he lived, and JINDŘICH BÁLEK, PETR KADLEC also to the standards of today.

6 | history | czech music 6 | 2003 APPRENTICESHIP YEARS however, material want was never grounds and Furtwängler. After two seasons, howev- He was born on the 28th of May 1883 in for reducing standards. The economic situa- er, he returned to the Czech Philharmonic Kroměříž, but from the age of two grew up in tion of the orchestra improved only slowly, and also finally began to teach at the Master Klatovy. His was not the childhood of an but its musical level rose steeply. “I do not School of the Prague Conservatory. infant prodigy and his memories of student deny that the Czech musician has great nat- From the start of his career, however, he had bands, playing at dances or performing the ural talent, temperament and passion, but it many inveterate enemies and almost every Ryba‘s Mass – where he played the tympani was soon clear to me that he lacks discipline major step that he took was attacked. For – are slightly reminiscent of the times of F. L. and respect for the note, for the rules,” Talich excessive performance of Smetana, for too Věk. At the Klatovy Grammar School he early later recalled, “That was why the first years little respect for Smetana, for paying too little developed a fascination with Latin and of my activities at the Czech Philharmonic attention to contemporary composers, for Greek literature and it was to remain his were years of preparation and training. The presenting contemporary composers too great literary love throughout his life. more and more difficult tasks of reproduc- often, for pedantry, but also for subjectivism From 1896 he studied the violin at the tion came only when I had created the etc. etc. He rarely bothered to defend him- Prague Conservatory and even joined the instrument.” self and believed that the strongest argu- exclusive class of Professor Ševčík. The To the Philharmonic he brought not just ment was a well performed work. There was scholarship that he won on the personal rec- artistic idealism and a new way of working, a storm of criticism when he was offered the ommendation of Antonín Dvořák allowed him but also systematic and genuinely concept- post of chief of opera at the National Theatre to study without material worries. He could ual thinking on repertoire. In the very first following the death of Otakar Ostrčil. Talich attend concerts, university lectures, keep up years he introduced a cycle of Czech sym- was appointed to the post in 1935, but his with Herben’s Čas (Time journal) and pas- phonies and symphonic poems, but also had duties meant that he did not take it up in sionately discuss new literature with his fel- the idea of evenings devoted to the music of practice until the Spring of 1936. low students. individual European nations. When we After graduating he spent a year as first vio- remember that he studied all the pieces part THE NATION FOR ITSELF linist in the Berlin Philharmonic, but he was by part from the score, the range of works While with the Czech Philharmonic he had so impressed by its conductor, the legendary presented seems almost incredible. The Phil- had to start from scratch, as head of the Artur Nikisch, that the twenty-one year-old harmonic at this period played the greatest National Theatre opera company he could Talich decided to became a conductor him- quantity of new and contemporary pieces built on the work of two predecessors. He self. As a result of tuberculosis, however, he and Talich liked to experiment in their inter- had Kovařovic’s temperament and sense for soon had to leave Berlin, and go to Russia to pretation. fullness of sound, and the education and regain his health. His experiences in Odessa, It was not just a matter of discovering new erudition of Otakar Ostrčil. To this he added where in 1905 he lived through the famous works, but often of the first proper rehearsal a feeling for modern musical drama, perfec- docking of the Battleship Potemkin, and then and thorough interpretation of well-known tionism and a determination to create a per- in Tbilisi, were often adventures in life rather works. For example in a letter of 1918 he forming tradition of Smetana, but also than art, but he was pleased at any opportu- wittily wrote on the subject of the presenta- Dvořák, Janáček and Mozart. The first work nity to lay aside his violin and take up the tion of Slavonic Dances: “I would like to show that he presented, on the 19th of June 1936 conductor’s baton. Talich got his first chance that Dvořák was a poet of rhythm and not at was Dvořák’s Rusalka. He then successively of a longer engagement in Ljubljana in all just a musician writing dance music. If it presented Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová, Her 1908–1912. During these years he also was and remains possible to talk about Step-Daughter, Smetana’s The Bartered married and managed to “slip over” to Dvořák in these terms, the main fault lies Bride, but also The Secret, The Devil’s Wall Leipzig, where he improved his knowledge of with our brilliant reproductive art that has and others. He threw himself into the pro- musical theory and composition under Max churned out Slavonic Dances time after time duction of Mozart operas with new energy. Reger. in the smoke-filled Vinohrady House over The situation after the Munich Diktat in There followed three years as a conductor in a beer and now believes that the mistake 1938, faced him with the question of Pilsen and three years “unemployed” can be remedied by just transferring them to whether he should stay at home and expose (1915–1918). At that time he devoted him- the Municipal House. The smoke and the himself to the risks, or emigrate. There was self intensively to the ancient classics, but beer linger on in them to this day!” no lack of countries that would have been mainly to the study of scores, without even In 1924 the Czech Philharmonic under glad to receive him, but he decided to stay. having any certainty that he would ever be Talich’s baton excelled at an international Thanks to Talich, the standard of the Nation- able to conduct. In 1917 Josef Suk finished music festival in Prague, two years later al Theatre during the war was the highest in his symphonic poem Zrání (Ripening). Ludvík Talich conducted Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, its history. In addition, he founded the Prague Vítězslav Čelanský and Karel Kovařovic, who and in the same year took the orchestra to Musical May Festival and up to 1941 was had earlier conducted premieres of Asrael Vienna “right into the lions’ den” with also principal conductor of the Czech Phil- and Pohádky léta (Summer Fairytales) were Mahler’s 9th Symphony… and the success harmonic. He was at the height of his pow- both keen to conduct it, but Suk entrusted was overwhelming. Talich’s international ers and his intensive activity was based on Zrání to his friend, a Pilsen conductor as yet fame grew and he was invited conduct all his clear conviction that work and the high- unknown in Prague – Václav Talich. The pre- the important European orchestras – to Italy, est standards were in themselves moral val- miere on the 30th of October 1918, a mere France, Germany, Great Britain, the Soviet ues: “Cultural matters have ceased to be the two days after the declaration of Czechoslo- Union and to Sweden. He welcomed the privilege of the initiated and ought to vak independence, was a fundamental turn- opportunity to see how he would cope in become the most important element of the ing point in his career. After the new year he other places. These engagements culminat- expression of national will and pride.” And he was appointed second conductor of the ed in his appointment as principal conductor won colleagues over to his side both directly Czech Philharmonic and in September 1919 of the Stockholm Orchestra in the years and indirectly: “Surrounded by a German sea he became its chief conductor. 1931–1933. we can demonstrate our right to life only by In Sweden his experiences were similar to fanatical output and effectiveness, devote SWEAT AND GLORY those of Bedřich Smetana eighty years yourselves completely to our work – after all Heading the young orchestra initially meant before: a country with an incomparably poor- it is the only right that the system today has a daily struggle to improve the material con- er musical tradition treated him with greater left us.” ditions of the musicians. There was neither openness, interest honour and above all The Nazis naturally tried to get Talich on their a permanent organisational base nor much gratitude than his native land. To this day side, but when they failed to get his agree- general awareness that Czech culture need- Talich’s name figures in the Swedish gallery ment they managed without it. They ed a permanent orchestra at all. For Talich, of honour somewhere between Toscanini “improved” his newspaper articles and inter-

czech music 6 | 2003 | history | 7 views, and against his will they appointed him prove that good cannot be suppressed. In fect ensemble I have ever heard and the to the League against Bolshevism, fooling these terrible six years our nation has experi- most perfect in existence.” a large part of the population. Talich protest- enced this on the large-scale in the last sev- Talich so enjoyed his work with the CCO that ed and tried to avoid further traps. For exam- en months I have experienced it on the small he hesitated for a time over whether to ple he had an unnecessary hip operation as scale. Now I walk without confidence, bat- accept the offer to return to the post of head an excuse for not having to conduct at the tered, and I will need to meet many more of opera at the National Theatre. He pre- Berlin Opera. When forced to take the Czech good people before trust and zest for work ferred to work just with the young ensemble, Philharmonic to Berlin, Talich made it a condi- are kindled in me again.” He rediscovered where he could do things that were impossi- tion that the programme must contain both – one might say – thanks to the birth of ble with any other orchestra, and where he Beethoven’s Egmont and the whole of the Czech Chamber Orchestra. had developed a unique relationship with the Smetana’s Má Vlast (My Country), which in In the spring of 1946 a group of his pupils young musicians. It was in 1947 that he the Protectorate could only be performed from the master school of the conservatory returned to the National Theatre and began without the Tábor and Blaník sections. met and together with Ivan Medek, who sub- to revive earlier productions and prepare the In 1944 he vainly tried to save the National sequently took on most of the organisational premiere of Debussy’s Pelléas et Melisande. Theatre company from deportation for forced work, founded a voluntary ensemble of The psychological and work pressure unfor- labour. After the closure of the National young conservatory students. Talich was able tunately caused him to suffer a stroke at the Theatre on the 1st of September 1944 he to work with them at a time when he was end of the year and he spent several months lived in his villa in the town of Beroun. There prevented from appearing publicly. At the recovering. he once again studied the score of same time it was with them that Talich ful- And then came the Communist take-over in Smetana’s Libuše, believing that it would be filled his old dream of working with a smaller February 1948, which turned insignificant the first opera that he would put on at the ensemble. At the first rehearsal in March hacks into weighty and powerful figures in National Opera after the war. Alas, he was 1946 it had 24 stringed instruments and it cultural life. And the “cultural front” that they never to conduct it again… as he feverishly was gradually joined by others. formed, headed by Zdeněk Nejedlý, was worked on it during the war he had no inkling Following the first postwar elections in May more accurately to be described as a liquida- that the worst times were yet to come… of the same year, Dr. Jaroslav Stránský tion brigade. The new ban on appearances became the minister of education. Stránský by Talich and the end of the Czech Chamber BETWEEN TWO PRECIPICES was favourably inclined to Talich and proved orchestra are living proofs of the cultural After the liberation he was forbidden to rejoin the first to give him the opportunity to work barbarism of socialism. the National Theatre. According to with the National Theatre orchestra again. Talich’s old enemy and the new Minister of With this orchestra Talich rehearsed My THE DARK AGE Education, Zdeněk Nejedlý, the National Country for its first postwar performance, The new prohibition of his activities re- Theatre should have been silent during the which took place on the 27th of September opened the wounds that Talich had sustained way, and not performed for Germans. In May 1946 in the Smetana Hall. When he as a prisoner in Pankrác, and he was never 1945 Talich was arrested – or as it was appeared on the podium the audience rose fully to recover from them. He courageously reported “held” – and spent six dreadful and paid him tribute. took the opportunity to rebuild the Slovak weeks in the prison in Pankrác. The reason? Soon after, his first concert with the Czech Philharmonic from scratch and for three Collaboration during the war. The charge was Chamber Orchestra took place, with a pro- years (1949–1952) commuted to Bratislava. not sustainable in the long term, and so Talich gramme of earlier Czech music. The young Gradually he regained the chance at least to was finally freed by a Czech court and explic- group caused a minor sensation and every record with the Czech Philharmonic, and this itly cleared on all possible counts. subsequent performance just confirmed the means that today we still have a record of at The “Talich case” did not, however, disappear initial enthusiasm. They also played with the least a fragment of Talich’s extraordinary from the pages of the newspapers and harsh famous French cellist Pierre Fournier, who musical achievements. and unexpected blows continued to rain said: “I will do everything possible to ensure Even in these reduced circumstances he down on the conductor. In a letter of 1945 he that this exceptional ensemble comes to was still a man who shone and was unfail- wrote, “Truth and justice will of course prevail, Paris to show the French how chamber ingly generous with his talent. The Slovak but woe to those whom God has chosen to music should be done… It is the most per- Philharmonic proved at least as grateful as

8 | history | czech music 6 | 2003 the Stockholm orchestra, and the atmos- phere during recordings with the Czech Phil- harmonic was sometimes nothing short of miraculous. “I tremendously enjoy working the talich archive and a man can work in any circumstances. This fanaticism for work has got me through everything”, said Talich in a short speech to the Philharmonic on his sixty-nineth birthday, BOHUSLAV VÍTEK “but I don’t want to be regarded any longer as someone who has sinned against his nation even in the smallest way.” His first public appearance with the Czech Philharmonic, again with Smetana’s My I hope that the Supraphon won’t be annoyed and other conductors came out. Recently the Country, was not to take place, however, until at the “borrowing” of this title. Years ago it extensive EMI Great Conductors of the 20th the 5th of March 1954. On that day Talich was the title of three albums, at that time still Century series has earned special attention, found the strength only to conduct the vinyl records, of re-editions of Václav Talich and in it a double album of Talich, although Vyšehrad movement. The rest of the concert, recordings. The first was devoted solely to for the most part containing more recent in a packed hall, was taken over by Karel recordings of Josef Suk, the second concen- Supraphon recordings. These have in fact Ančerl. Talich conducted the whole of My trated on Czech music, and the third on the mostly already been published by Supraphon Country two months later at the opening world repertoire. In their time they were an separately, especially in what is known as the concert of the Prague Spring. During the extremely valuable and important series for “postal” edition for the 100th anniversary of festival he appeared several times more, for getting to know the field. For many people it the Czech Philharmonic. If, however, we are example at a legendary concert with Svi- was also a first meeting with Talich’s much interested in the period when Talich was atoslav Richter. His last public performance older recordings from the 1920s and 30s, principal conductor of the orchestra, i.e. the was a subscription concert with a pro- naturally not yet produced by Supraphon but First Republic and the Occupation, then we gramme of Mozart on the 19th of November by the London firm and later released under should certainly take note of the double 1954. the Electrola and Victor labels. Supraphon is album from the Tahra company, which is the Thanks to family, friends and pupils he was today the main hope that the recordings of first to put the Dvořák Symphonies from the able to experience some moments of a hap- the conductor Václav Talich will not fall into 1930s on compact disc, for example. Nor py old age, but the overall picture of the trag- oblivion, since the archive contains all the should we forget the very important produc- ic end of one of the greatest of Czech musi- recordings that Talich made at a time when tion of the Koch Legacy company (RCD), cians is hard to contest, still less the guilt of recordings had started to reach an accept- which has had the courage to release the those responsible. On the eve of his seventy- able technical level, i.e. at the turn of the very first Talich recordings of Má vlast [My fourth birthday he was awarded the title of 1940s and1950s. Country] (1929) and Slavonic Dances National Artist – a hypocritical gesture on (1935). This introductory survey is meant to the part of the regime and a debt paid too The ability to technically modify recordings indicate that it is now very much high time late. The book Document of a Life and Work, without fundamentally changing their identi- that Václav Talich, like his great colleagues which is an excellent and still the best por- ty, which came with the development of digi- on the international scene, should finally be trait of the artist, was written for the occa- talisation and compact disks at the begin- honoured with his own major and compre- sion. It could be published, however, only ning of the 1980s, brought benefits few had hensive anthology of recordings. It is no much later in 1967, six years after Václav anticipated. Those hard to find recordings secret that Supraphon has such a project in Talich’s death on the 16th of March 1961 in from the pre-war period started to appear in mind. Let us hope that it will be as soon as Beroun. great quantities in faultlessly cleaned up possible and as complete as possible. An form and so today it is much easier to get an excellent and, it seems, exhaustive catalogue Used by permission of Harmonie magazine. idea of the interpretations of the period. is available in the new English Talich disco- Major collections of Toscanini, Furtwängler graphy produced by Graham Slater. Ladislav

czech music 6 | 2003 | history | 9 of Talich – created the complete opposite in 1981 with the Berlin Philharmonic, and his version is closer to the world of Tchaikovsky or the Northern composers. We can find sim- ilar examples in recordings of Dvořák sym- phonies, but also in other works as well. There is no space here for deeper analysis of Talich’s interpretation of Dvořák, which remains a great inspiration to this day, but let us at least mention the pre-war London recordings of the 6th and 7th symphonies, the double recordings of the 8th and 9th symphonies, the legendary recording of the Dvořák Cello Concerto with Rostropovich, the Piano Concerto with Maxián and the Sta- Šíp’s short article on recording with Václav po (here, however, we need to take into bat Mater with outstanding soloists. It is also Talich, later included into the almanach of account the fact that in 1929 recordings crucial in this context to remember the memories and documents relating to Václav were made in five-minute sections corre- Dvořák recording, which represents a kind of Talich compiled by Ivan Medek (Prague sponding to one side of a 78 black disk), but Talichian synthesis. This is a recording of the 1967), is also a very valuable document, in overall conception. The earlier recording is symphonic poems based on Erben’s Kytice although more a memoir. full of a youthful spirit, a greater romantic (Bouquet: a famous Czech poem cycle). We tremulousness, while on the other hand we can only regret that Talich – also an out- are rather taken aback by techniques that standing opera conductor – did not make Recently and with great fascination we have are entirely unacceptable today (for instance a complete recording of any opera, since in been listening again to the newly cleaned glissandi). The later recording of 1954 is Dvořák’s poems, which are often criticised and released recordings of Karel Ančerl more static, although this does not mean for a certain formal incongruity, he showed (Ančerl Gold series, Supraphon). It is also that it loses anything of its dynamic flow that the composer was as great a dramatist a way of reaching a deeper understanding of adorned by acoustically juicy climaxes. We as he was an architect. He engaged system- the Czech performance tradition – our for- can say much the same about the recordings atically with these works, although he never mer domain. It is through Talich recordings, of the Slavonic Dances. The 1935 version is presented them in complete form at a con- however, that we shall get to what is funda- ravishing in its tempo and energetic commit- cert, and demonstrated (let us concede that mental, and the starting point for a whole ment, but less thorough in the working out of it was after certain retouches for example in generation. There were very few top Czech details. This is natural – there is no call for the Golden Spinning-Wheel, but in accor- performers of the latter half of the twentieth fussiness! In contrast, in 1950 Talich con- dance with the written instructions of the century that were untouched by Talich’s per- ceived the individual dances as small musical composer!) that it was possible to combine sonality. The contact was not necessarily poems, rich in superb details. Dvořák’s biog- the two elements in a form of genius. To direct, but could be mediated by teachers rapher Otakar Šourek is said to have achieve this, however, requires a great deal and colleagues who had gone through the annoyed him during the Dvořák recording of of labour and work with every detail. Talich school. Rafael Kubelík, Karel Ančerl, 1950 by pointing our that the individual Although there exists a whole series of Charles Mackerras and other important con- dances were performed slower than in the recordings of these poems, apart from Talich ductors all emerged from the spirit of Talich, previous recording. probably only Zdeněk Chalabala managed even if they later developed their own per- the feat. Unfortunately this major Talich sonal styles. And there is no need to limit our recording suffers from having been made view to conductors. The world of instrumen- For years it has been the conventional and just at the point of transition to recording on talists affected by Talich’s personality, who very misleading view in this country that tape. The symphonic poem The Water Goblin themselves have passed on their experience compared to younger conductors who try to was using the earlier technology and digitali- to entire generations of pupils, is still larger. interpret romanticism without too much sation had to be carried out from old 78 Talich died in 1961 and those who remem- agogics and in a more down-to-earth spirit, discs. The radio recording of the symphonic ber him directly are gradually departing. Talich was much more lyrical and tended to poems as performed (without the Golden Already what we can learn of the style of his be slower in tempo. He has tended to be Spinning-Wheel) at a concert in 1954 may work and his opinions as musician and man, seen as more comparable to the conductors be regarded as at least a partially technically always closely and directly inter-related, is of what is known as the old school, i.e. more superior “substitute”. The studio recordings necessarily second-hand, and this can lead to the Klemperer or Böhm type than to of the Noonday Witch, Golden Spinning- to distortion. Hence recordings are actually a Toscanini or Karajan, for example. It is hard Wheel and especially the Dove (we would be the only reliable source of knowledge and to discern the grounds for this distortion and hard put to it to find a more convincing ver- understanding. None of them, however, offer mistake. It is enough to compare sion of the exultant and emotionally thrilling us Talich’s definitive view! As is well-known, Talich’s recordings of the Dvořák Serenade central part) are, however, an entirely faithful he recorded with great ardour but never for Strings in E major, for example, with that picture of the philharmonic sound of the regarded the result as musically final, and of Karajan made thirty years later. Unusually, time. this was true of the concert hall as well. His in 1951 Talich did not record the work comment after completing his legendary (unlike Suk’s Serenade) with the Czech Phil- From Dvořák it is but a short step to Suk, at recording of My Country in 1954 is telling: harmonic, but with selected players from dif- the beginning of his career the heir of “So au revoir until my next recording of My ferent Prague orchestras. Over many Dvořák but later, with his ambitiously con- Country!” For every new performance or rehearsals he refined every detail with them, ceived and difficult scores the first Czech recording he re-approached even the most and strove for the richest possible scale of modernist. Here the recordings of the Asrael famous works in detail, quite often present- expression. The result was a superb dynamic Symphony and the long musical poem ing a markedly different interpretation. One recording – unusually dramatic in the faster Ripening (Zrání) rank alongside the leg- good example is provided precisely by his sections and wistful, but by no means melan- endary recording of the Serenade in E Flat recordings of the Smetana Cycle. Comparing cholic in the lyrical passages. This is unal- major and the technically handicapped Fairy- the recordings of 1929 and 1954 we find loyed, vital Dvořák in all its characteristic fea- tales (see comments on the Water Goblin that the differences are not only in the tem- tures. Karajan – by the way a great admirer above) as among the best and most valuable

10 | history | czech music 6 | 2003 elements in the Talich archive. Alas, he did not record the Epilogues and the Fairytale of Summer (although the latter was recorded in peerless fashion with the Philharmonic at the same time by his colleague of many years Karel Šejna). The recording of the Asrael is a showcase example of a gigantic score, conceived and elaborated into a single over- arching whole in modern spirit. The same can be said of Ripening. Václav Talich was near the end of his musical career when he prepared this work for recording. He insisted on an unheard of number of rehearsals, in which he polished every detail. Although they tried their best to meet the demands of the forever unsatisfied Talich, the musicians of the Philharmonic became very tired. When Talich finally demanded that they rehearse the whole thing one more time, they secretly asked the sound master František Burda to push the button on the tape recorder. Their performance during the “run-through” then persuaded the very surprised and pleased conductor to accept the “secret” recording as definitive. Talich’s pupil Zdeněk Bílek later added a few retouches and additional pas- sages with the concluding women’s choir. The fact that it is a recording of a single long passage without interruption makes it a his- torical document as well as a musical achievement. It gives us a chance to savour Suk’s Ripening in all its unity and integrity, at some points even marks out future poten- the Baroque was played until relatively which cannot be said of other recordings of tial directions in the development of music as recently, i.e. in the spirit of the romantic tradi- the work. a whole. Another recording that is almost tion. The works of Leoš Janáček have a rather forgotten is Talich’s fresh and joyful interpre- Talich’s individuality shines from all the curious status in Talich’s recording output. tation of Smetana’s cantata Czech Song with recordings and there is no alternative but to He was a composer whom Talich particularly what was still just Jan Kühn’s Czech Choir, regret, once again, that a conductor so loved and in whom he had a deep interest since it has not been released in recent important in both the Czech and international confirmed by several interpretations of his decades. musical life of the twentieth century did not operas in the National Theatre. Talich Foreign composers are in distinct minority as have a chance to make more. Analysis of the explored them in their full depth and the per- compared to the Czech masters in whole Talich archive, of each recording, today formance of Janáček’s works undoubtedly Talich’s catalogue. It might therefore seem still in many respects so up-to-date, would contributed to his fame. It is just a pity that that Talich’s domain was simply that of Czech require a whole book. Such a book would be only two recordings were made, and they do music. This is, however, a mistakenly simple exceedingly useful. It would undoubtedly not offer an ideal picture, since Talich’s many view and one that is tellingly challenged by highlight the legacy of Talich mentioned at retouches, however well meant, provoke Talich’s recording of one evergreen in world the beginning of this article. One example some embarrassment. The score of Taras concert halls, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, may stand for many: the idea behind Bulba was at many points romanticised and “Pathetique”. There are few other recordings Talich’s efforts in the short history of the time has ultimately proved the greater truth- on which we can hear so dramatic and Czech Chamber Orchestra that he founded fulness of Janáček’s original version as pre- humanly painful a rendering of the first was taken up later by his younger colleague, sented on recordings by Bakala and later movement with its spellbinding sense of the violinist, chamber musician and teacher Ančerl. Nor can we today accept the suite struggle, as is confirmed by the admiration it Josef Vlach when he founded a new Czech from The Cunning Little Vixen without reser- aroused in the grand old man of the Russian Chamber Orchestra. Nor did this idea die vations, and we cannot help feeling that school of conducting, Talich’s younger col- with the distinguished Vlach. The Czech František Jílek’s version is more authentic league and friend Yevgeny Mravinsky, whose Chamber Orchestra – now the third genera- than that of Václav Talich (or Jaroslav Řídký equally famous recording of the work does tion – lives on under the musical direction of and František Škvor). The Cunning Little Vix- not in my opinion compare with Talich’s. Vlach’s pupil Ondřej Kukal and en was one of Talich’s great loves. One can Talich’s Mozart is also remarkable – com- Vlach’s daughter Jana. Once again we have only speculate how a complete recording pletely balanced in terms of expression, and a proof in the form of a recording – under his baton would have sounded in the often emotionally more compelling than the Suk’s String Serenades! Talich made it with pure original… Mozart we are used to today (Clarinet Con- the Czech Philharmonic, but Vlach and then The Czech masters are indebted to Talich for certo with V. Říha). With the passage of time Kukal have made the same recording with a series of other brilliant recordings, which we naturally have more serious reservations the Czech Chamber Orchestra. Each of remain in many respects models to this day. about the recordings of the Baroque these recordings is completely individual, but Let us mention at least one that is easy to (Bach’s Concerto in D minor with S. Richtěr, in each we sense the background that they overlook, Smetana’s Prague Carnival. Unlike Händel’s Oboe Concerto in G Minor with F. have in common! Like a silver thread, the tra- the overwhelming majority of conductors, Hanták or Bach’s Suite in D major with the dition that started with Talich now winds on who seem helpless in the face of this pecu- Slovak Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble), in the fabric of our contemporary musical life. liar orchestral fragment, Talich demonstrated just as with similar recordings by other com- in a masterly and fully thought out interpreta- posers in later years (Klemperer, Karajan). Used by permission of Harmonie magazine. tion that it was an extraordinary work, which These have value more as documents of how

czech music 6 | 2003 | history | 11 TEREZA HAVELKOVÁ

____the electronic worlds of michal rataj

At Czech Radio, where you work, you production work that might in the future be created for the radio, represent a certain sig- initiated the intermedia project called a Czech ars acustica scene – with nal… and so we shall have to wait and see rAdioCUSTICA, which includes not only crossovers into visual art, the web, multime- how the signal strengthens after 2 years… the brilliantly operated Internet portal dia and so on. rAdioCUSTICA is the virtual http://www.rozhlas.cz/radiocustica, extension of Radioateliér in the form of What sort of response has but also the programme Radioateliér, a database on the broadcast projects, pho- rAdioCUSTICA had so far? broadcast by Čro 3 – Vltava. Can you tos, references, and there’s also a sound To be honest I expected a bigger response, explain the impulses that led to this archive there and links to other servers in the but then again I’m a realist. It’s partly that it is project? What inspired you to it? And world, the spark for a kind of theoretical cell a very new thing and quite sophisticated, and what exactly is rAdioCUSTICA trying to of ars acoustica… My vision of the portal is doesn’t have a very long tradition in this achieve? great, but time is limited… country. And then, and here I have to admit a bit of mea culpa – when I get the chance Let me just clear up the nomenclature. Every Was it hard to get the project through to devote myself just to this area, then the week from Friday to Saturday Vltava broad- at Czech Radio? information quality of the portal and so the casts the programme Radioateliér as an If you get the support of the bosses for feedback too will definitely be greater, and experimental slot for new radio composi- a certain vision, then it’s not a problem – and perhaps discussion in the form will finally tions. As a producer, every month I’m given I think that’s what happened in this case and take off, and perhaps we shall get closer to what is known as a PremEdice (Prime Edi- it’s still happening and I’m really pleased portals of the audiohyperspace type tion) of Radioateliér designed exclusively for about it. The real problem to fulfil the vision (www.swr2.de/audiohyperspace). premieres of pieces by Czech composers in the long-term – and here I underline the (mainly the younger) who have created new work “long-term”, because in our conditions One element of rAdioCUSTICa is the projects specially for this slot. My aspiration we’re talking about a very long haul indeed. project “Compositor”, which is a kind – and I admit it’s not exactly humble – is to But I have the feeling that even just these of appeal for universal radiophonic create something through this longer-term first ten entirely new productions, specially creativity. Can you explain what pre-

12 | interview | czech music 6 | 2003 Michal Rataj (1975) is not only a composer, but also a musi- cologist and a radio producer. When he talks about music it is clear that he doesn’t just create it but also reads a great deal about it and thinks about in on a theoretical level. He is realising his vision of how contemporary music should be presented in the civic association S.H.O.C.K. (Soudobá hud- ba otevřená celé kultuře – Contemporary Music Open to the Whole Culture), and on Czech Radio, in “his” Prime Edition Radioateliér (Radio studio) he is creating a space for the radiophonic output of his contemporaries. In fact “radiopho- ny” and “ars acustica”, and electro-acoustic music in general is also Rataj’s main interest in composition.

cisely this is all about? How many con- work with sound is the most interest- tributions have you received so far? ing for you? Anyone can download in mp3 several dozen At the most general level probably the most sounds, effects, musical extracts and so on, interesting type of work is when every new and use them to create his or her own short composition gives me the chance to create piece, sound story. I haven’t received many a kind of virtual world, which is completely pieces, but those I have received are amaz- different from the world of acoustic instru- ingly charming. I haven’t closed the “competi- ments, the chance to experiment with build- tion”, and I’m letting it run on although after ing such a world from the first “bricks”, the a while I shall change the individual sounds first played sound (acoustic and electronic). and every so often I shall broadcast the best On the other hand, electronics for me isn’t entries on the PremEdice of Radioateliér. “something other” than the world of acoustic instruments, and what actually interests me PremEdice also involves both names more is to link up the two worlds, to try and is something in what you say. Form is gener- from the “academic” music scene transfer instrumental diction into electronics ally quite important to me and maybe you (Miroslav Srnka, Slavomír Hořínka, and vice versa, to find the rhythm of acoustic could say that I’m actually very conservative Tomáš Pálka and others), and groups sound and transfer it into electronic contexts. as far as form is concerned. The thing is that that have come to electronic music and That is maybe why I’m not as technically I feel there are certain principles whereby “ars acustica” from a rather different precise as other composers in my work with music functions in time and that these are direction (e.g. Auvid and e.o). What in electronic material; I don’t mind leaving the unchanging over the centuries. And to be your view is the difference between the sound with a slight hum or buzz, and so it honest in this respect I have no ambitions to academic and non-academic electronic isn’t crystal pure, but I always try to ensure invent anything new, since I am sure that scene? In your programme you seem to that it breathes, and has some life of its own I would get nowhere. be trying to bring them together – – that it shouldn’t be a piece of cold elec- On the other hand, what interests me a great why? tronic stone. deal are sharp conflicts between the themes For me as a composer and musicologist this Apart from that – I’ve been keen on cables and material that I use in the pieces. I remem- is an exceedingly interesting experience – and potentiometers and data-wheels every ber how many of my teachers at the Academy the confrontation between two worlds that since I was small, and I made my first syn- of Performing Arts were shocked when I both have a chance to gain something from thetic art out of lego… wrote a chorale with a simple three-chord the other. Very briefly: academic composers harmony. It was (almost) light pop, but I liked are often a little biased as far as the more One feature of your music that I find it a lot, and what was interesting was that abstract acoustic qualities are concerned, interesting is that on the one hand you nobody considered why I had done it like that. they think more in notes and musical struc- exploit the most recent technology of Or else in my electronic piece Oratorium elec- tures. Non-academics (often visual artists) work with sound, but at the same time tronicum I took the word “krleš” (Kyrie eleison do the precise opposite, but then again they you rely on certain aesthetic and intel- in old Czech) and derived the word “lež” (lie) often have a problem with the perception of lectual principles that could be called from it by vowel similarity, and let the two time and the formation of the acoustic mate- “traditional”. Your pieces usually have words sound in parallel. That’s what I hugely rial within time, which can damage the whole. a carefully constructed and closed enjoy – taking building blocks that are very I think that the confrontation of these two form, and sometimes tend towards the different (musically, rhythmically, semantically) worlds is extremely necessary and valuable, monumental (see the Vítkov Oratorio), and bringing them into absolute contrast and and in this country pretty crucial for the and they typically have an intellectual letting them resonate. I don’t want to say much future development of the soundart scene… seriousness, and an aspiration to spiri- about musical meanings, but if this kind of tual and timeless communication. It is approach can be regarded as a certain type of But let’s not talk only about as if you were untouched by the wide- meaning, then I can say that I really try to get it rAdioCUSTICa and radiophony. What spread post-modern relativism… into my music and I am pleased that the mean- attracts you to electronic music in gen- The worst thing is when a composer (espe- ings resonate in a different way for each listen- eral? What do you see as its main cially one that has studied musicology) has er and that – if you will – “post-modern meta- potential? What type of electronic to talk about his own pieces… Maybe there meanings” develop out of it.

czech music 6 | 2003 | interview | 13 You are currently president of the civic association SHOCK (www.ishock.org), which apart from openness towards new technologies also proclaims the aim of linking up contemporary music with art and architecture. On its web pages we find the statement, “Interpenetrating with the visual arts, contemporary music can open up a new artistic space.” This suggests something more than just the more attractive presentation of contemporary music with the aim of gaining a larger audi- ence. Could you tell us a bit more about this concept? It’s simple. Traditional concert perform- ance, which developed during the 17th The “newness” of the music is a problematic century, survives today in a form that in no criterion. The festival’s title may give some way corresponds to the music being writ- people the impression that it is a festival of ten today; we are applying means of pres- world premieres, which it is not. Nor is it entation that are three centuries old to the a showcase of new trends. It tries to offer music of the present. It is absurd, but new things in the sense of relatively new that’s the way it is, and I think that in this things, but also things not yet heard in our respect music is incontestably the most part of the world. Even after fourteen years conservative of all the arts. SHOCK is try- there are still plenty of them. And of course, ing to show that music produced in the given that one person is responsible for most present day must exist in its natural con- of the preparations, it is no wonder that the texts (visual, productive, social). This is why occasional hitch occurs (although this is no it tries for more communication with artists real excuse). in other fields, seeking to enrich music The festival programme is always a compro- with a visual dimension (suitably chosen mise between what the organisers want, space, light design etc.) and bring it to what the performers offer and what the places with which it will resonate naturally sponsors will pay for. There are always items for the modern listener (i.e. somewhere that are potentially contentious. As an exam- other than a Baroque hall with crystal ple we can take the opening concert, the chandeliers). I think that the experience of Czech premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Passio, which several projects we have organised has was the main draw of the festival and, thanks confirmed our ideas (the most recent was to the posters, gave it its face. If the piece “Deconstructions” at the Vítkov Monu- had been included in the Prague Spring, ment). Contemporary music is not (or does then the choice would undoubtedly have not necessarily have to be) for a spe- deserved praise from the critics. In the cialised public. If there are emotions in that framework of the Marathon it seems more music, then the emotions can resonate in like “old music”, but nonetheless music that any person who allows them to resonate. It has had an important influence on the con- is just necessary to create the space for temporary form of music. Nor is it irrelevant the resonance, and to create it in a way that Arvo Pärt was a name that attracted adequate to the age in which we live. a large audience. In the field of sound installations and experi-

What role has “bigbeat” played in music of variegated a marathon 2003new music marathon ments, Paul Panhuysen is also a long-estab- your life as a musician? lished veteran. His The Long String Installa- A big role. And not just big beat, but jazz, tion brought nothing more than what the title ethno, country… I’ve never found it a prob- MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL promised: four strings strung across the lem switching over in my brain from Messi- podium and sounded by the author by hand, aen to Sting, and then Chick Corea and Bill walking from side to side. This kind of music Evans, and to get from Redl right over to has been heard from many composers since Värttinä, for example. Maybe in time it will the sixties (and of course Panhuysen has develop into some musical multischizo- a major place among them). The view of phrenia, but my feeling is that if you live a man in braces and trousers walking music to the full, then it has to be genuine between the strings as if in a blind alley may and so it has to be safe. Just as it is when have provoked sympathy, led to thoughts on every so often I have a terrific need to take the situation of experimental music, or just my “clapperboards” to some smoky club bored members of the audience, but it didn’t and just play blues, or three-chord big- lack a certain magic quality. beat… Following its premiere last year, there was a repeat of a block by Čeští mlaďoši (Czech You will find Michal Rataj’s personal pages at: Young Guys), i.e. a presentation of the prom- www.volny.cz/compositor/ ising among the new faces. Of the four com- posers presented, the one who clearly stood Paul Panhuysen out was Michal Nejtek, who has already quite

14 | interview | czech music 6 | 2003 Bernhard Lang Smith Quartet

successfully established his reputation in public following, The British Smith Quartet er face (the first is turned towards orchestral this country and abroad and for whom the performed older pieces by Philip Glass and music) and with two fellow musicians offered title “young guy” no longer seems quite John Adams, together with stylistically differ- a block of short pieces made out of noise appropriate. His piece Different Colours ent compositions by Kevin Volans and Steve strings and accompanied by video. the two (Made of Tears) had a rock undertow (how Martland. This year Steffen Schleiermacher, elements of the performance had their inter- otherwise given the inspiration chosen?) and who the year before last reaped success esting point, but both would have benefited he “stole” the model, the song Venus in Furs with early Philip Glass, presented early Terry from being less ground up and fragmented. from the Velvet Underground, in an unobtru- Riley. He offered the European premiere of The inclusion of a tape of piano pieces by sive and ingenious way. With its melancholic the only recently discovered String Quartet Erik Satie, once again played by Schleierma- mood Vyzvání k tanci [Invitation to the 1960, a remarkable example of the way cher, was a really big step back in time, but Dance] by Marko Ivanovič formed a good Riley was initially influenced by La Monte their monotony and dynamic uniformity were opposite pole. The pieces by Roman Pallas Young. The second piece, Tread on a Trail, actually a pleasant change in the context of and Slavomír Hořínka were still too “studen- was perhaps excessively academic in com- the rest of the programme. ty” to say much about the personalities of the parison to the other recordings. The Minimal- If times changed and more people were able composers. ist and post-Minimalist set was completed by to take a hand in the preparation of the The Sunday concert was cancelled and so David Lang and his Child. Marathon – in terms of programme and tech- Praguers will have to wait a little longer for If one of the major recent trends is improvi- nically – it would perhaps be an improve- the operas (reportedly very interesting) by sation with electronics, i.e. hums, buzzes and ment. Even in present circumstances, howev- Martin Burlas and Ľubomír Burgr. rattles produced from a laptop, then the er, without the festival there would be The traditional “Marathon” block once again appearance of the LaLeLoo group is a liba- a painful gap in the concert calendar. demonstrated that Minimalism and the tion to the absolutely contemporary. Here the movements it has inspired have a strong composer Bernhard Lang presented his oth-

czech music 6 | 2003 | festival | 15 Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915–1940) was, ate a strong feeling of “atmosphere” in Vítězslava despite her short life, prolific and original accompaniment, which follows the mood of composer. It is not much known about her the text. work and also not much was released yet. In the song January (1933), piano is joined Kaprálová: Supraphon is now filling one of the gaps. by two violins, violoncello and flute. With this Kaprálová once wrote to her friend Jarmila instrumentation, Kaprálová creates melan- Vavrdová: “… I would like to write just songs, cholic atmosphere for surrealistic text by Songs they are my biggest love.” Indeed, songs form Vítězslav Nezval. an important part of her creative output. This Both performers serve the music very well. new CD, released by Supraphon, presents Dana Burešová is since 1991 a leading SUPRAPHON almost all of them. We will not find here only soloist at the National Theatre in Prague, two early pieces from 1930s, which were with many great roles in her repertoire. probably merely exercises for next work. Despite the highly demanding writing, she Omitted are also Hymn of the volunteer sings with admirable freshness, clarity and nurses of the Czechoslovak Red Cross intelligent engagement with words. Her (1938), Song of the workers of the Lord experience with the group Musica Antiqua (1939) and In the Bohemian Land (1939). helps her not to become exaggeratedly Vítězslava Kaprálová had an affinity for poet- romantic in expression. Timothy Cheek does ry, which she also wrote herself. Her most very much in promoting Czech music to the favorite poet was Jaroslav Seifert (winner of world. He wrote books Singing in Czech and the Nobel Prize in 1984), whose poems she Janáček Opera Libreti and is currently used in the cycle An Apple from the Lap, Op. preparing a complete edition of 10 (1934–1936) and in the first song of the Kaprálová’s songs. In January, they are cycle Seconds, Op. 18 (1936–1939). joined by members of Herold Quartet and Among other poets we find Bohdan Jelínek, flutist Magda Čáslavová. Vítězslav Nezval, Fráňa Šrámek or Viktor Superbly presented 7 page booklet, with Kripner. She also used Czech and Moravian commentary by Timothy Cheek (in Czech, folk poetry, e. g. in Carol (1937) or Love English, French and German), brings many Song (1939). important and interesting facts about songs Since the early Two Songs (1932) we can and makes the impression of this great hear distinctive features of Kaprálová’s style. release complete. It is mastery in setting the natural inflection of Czech speech while creating beautiful MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL melodic lines. Next, she is also able to cre-

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