Doc. PhDr. Elena Letňanová
20th Anniversary of the Festival Forfest 2009
In Kroměříž And Olomouc
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Forfest this year expended from Kroměříž to the city of Olomouc and by its last exhibition of paintings by the painter, musician, and co-director of the festival, Václav Vaculovič, to Slovakia to the capital of Bratislava. Except for the traditional magnificent sites and music halls there were added the Cathedral of Wenceslas in Olomouc, Mozarteum of the Archdiocese Museum, the hall of the Conservatory Of Music of the Lutheran Academy and renowned Gallery G. The Forfest, with the 27 evening and afternoon’s concerts began non-traditionally, with the exhibition of the Contemporary Slovak Art under titled “Letter To Heaven” in the Gallery G in Olomouc on the June 5th with installations, photographies, paintings, and sculptures of Peter Roller, Ján Kodoň, Michaela and Šimon Klíman, Pavla Lazárková, Betta Majerníková a Eva Sládečková-Böhmová. In Olomouc six concerts sounded too (June 5), then continued 21 concerts on June 21–28 in Kroměříž in the magnificent Assembly Hall of the Archbishop’s Castle and with the phoography exhibition of the Slovak painter Vladimíra Sidorová in the Gallery Artuš, which rounded of the project of the three exhibitions. At the end of Forfest run three conceptualistic performances by American performer Lewis Gesner under the arc of the Renaissance graffiti house on the old main square. In the Museum of Kroměříž, where a permanent exhibition of the Czech famous painter Max Švabinský runs, a biennale of the International Conference with the topic „Spiritual Streams In the Contemporary Arts“ took place. Many guests from home and abroad presented their papers. The colloquium moderated Prof. PhDr. Andreas Kröper, musicologist, solo-flautist and director from Germany/ Switzerland.
The fame and value of the Forfest is growing every year and already today we may place Forfest among such international festival in Europe like The Warsaw Autumn, Musica Nuova in Rome, Darmstadt, Bucuresti, Kopenhagen and others. This year we have a privilege of fine experiences listening to 11 world premieres (of Czech, Swedish, American, German, Italian composers) and to 14 Czech premieres of the composers from Slovenia, Slovakia, Czechia, Moravia, USA, France, Poland, Austria, and Japan. The prevailing Czech premieres of in majority a young composers such as Vojtěch Mojžiš, Petr Vaculovič, Jana Vöröšová, Štěpán Filípek and recently deceased Petr Pokorný and Alois Piňos. From the world premieres captivated American Prof. Richard Toensing, in a colorful, timbreous, and rhythmically demanding anti-romantic and harmonically humble „Concertino For Piano And 9 Instruments) with the Ensemble of Brno Soloists under Ondřej Tajovský, then the composition of Italian composer Massimiliano Messieri „Forever“ with the prolongated sounds life in the electronics under the influence of the philosophy of the pauze and fermatas, realized by soprano saxophone - Michele Selva, triangle and electronics life, by the author himself. The piece „Forever“ extended the possibilities of experimentation, then Andrea Ceccomori, instrumentalist with incorporated photographies and Austrian Widmar Hader with „Vier Stücke für Violino Solo“ in the interpretation of the director of the festival Zdenka Vaculovičová. The vocal compositions of sensitive Polish composers Witold Szalonek „Drei Liebeslieder“ on text of Rajvinder Singh were deep, silent, and Július in „Pacem in terris“ with sonoristically super silent excellent accompaniment of the pianist at Japanese Kazuhiko Hattori „Dram“, in the interpretation of devoted interpreters of the contemporary music- Petr Matuszek, baritone and Markéta Dvořáková, mezzo-sopranist. Peter Matuszek was riveting in György Kurtág‘s „ Three Songs On Poems of János Pilinski“ and enchanted with how he makes aliquote tones. Kurtág pays for the greatest composer after Zoltán Kódaly. Terry Riley (in Czech premiere), sounded fresh, even in a „narrow instrumental“ version, very different from the Rileyho interpretation from the late 60’s.
In sum, the instrumental music out weighted with its opuses the vocal music, while the ensemble music did not out weight the chamber and solo output.
Slovenian music of the 20th century is still little known in our culture (except for Milko Globokar and Pejačevič from the first half of the 20th century). For the first time we listened to stylistically neoromantic but expressive Lucian Marija. His Škerjanc Maestoso” from thirties was a great lugubre with rachmaninof‘s modulating harmony, dedicated to Lucijan Škerjanc (1900-1973), a pattern of the generation emerging after him. Nenad Firšt with his shorter solo concert character, “Something Wild” was composed from motives and drafts of improvisational character, which were interrupted with episodes firing virtuosic figurations in a quick tempo. Milko Lazar, wrote “Five Short Pieces” for piano trio written with compositional souveraneity. Expressive musicality, ornamental soft, hedonistic arabesques in vivace tempo, with contrasting „rimbaudish“ details, captivated with his compositional aforism. In an excellent karmony of the trio of Slovenian artists Tatijana Ognjanovič - piano, Volodja Balžalorsky - violin, Damir Hamidulin – violoncello, sounded the piece by Hugh Levick „Translation For Piano Trio“, but I was not captivated by this piece. The triumphal „Trio“ from the year 1985/ 1992 by Alfred Schnittke, appeared as lightly appreciated, but serious postmodern monolith.
A great space was given to French music, in the form of two organ recitals of a young Hana Ryšavá and dynamic improvisator Vincent Rigot from France. Also captivating was an another organ recital of Prof. Jaroslav Tůma from Prague, who performed clearly, with a sense for dynamics and organ structure of Arvo Pärt „Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentäller“ and little known with perpetuous motus by Philip Glass „Mad Rush“, but also a serious piece „Preludium and fugue“ by Karel B. Jirák (the author, who had to emigrate from Czechia to USA in the time of communist order). ). The best was sad „Elegy For Valdštejn“ (dedicated to the city of Cheb).
This year festival continued to present the author’s concerts and half-concerts. Among them was the most surprising the works of professor of composition in Brno, František Emmert, who enchanted already in the last festival 2008 by his pietistic and dramatically contrasting “Symphony For Solo Violin Ecce homo”. This year he surprised not only by his serious, emotional even plaguing through works with religious orientation on the opening concert “The Last Day Of Judgment” and breathtaking “Sonata For Violin And Piano”, in a passionate interpretation of a promissing excellent Slovak violinist Milan Paľa and Ondrej Olos – piano also from Slovakia. The same day we heard by tension loaded viruosic piece „La Folia“, for solo violin, a remarkable piece from 70’s of then a young Vladimír Bokes, later a professor and dean at VSMU in Bratislava. The next day, the June 22nd, sounded Emmert‘s etherical “Time Of Messiah” and his peak, so far, extensive chamber oratorio “Carassing By Sight”, in beethovenish superdramatic upheavals, transitions, changing tempi a expression, ending with lyrical anjelic sounds, under the direction of Dáša Briškárová. For me a distant parallel with the arch-work of the 20th century, sonoristic “Lukas Passions” by Krzysztof Penderecki, is not a mere coincidence. Lucas Passions, from his „Romantic period“, sounded four days later in the acoustic Church of St. Baptist, composed, to my surprise, already in 1965. A year later this expressive and monumental Polish work received prizes in Germany and Prix Italia.
Due to well-thought programming of the director of Forfest, the violinist, composer, and a pedagogue, Zdenka Vaculovičová, we had a privilege to listen to French music again at two organ recitals composed from the music of women-composers Nadja Boulanger, Jeanne Demessieux, Emma Lou Diener in the performance of a talented young organist from Prague Hana Ryšavá and excellent works by Thierry Escaich, Jehan Alain, Maurice Duruflé, and a maestro of the new organ and piano literatures, Olivier Messiaen, interpreted by Vincent Rigot. Boulanger educated the whole Polish and partly American compositional Modern School from the 60s; let us remind Philip Glass, Ellen Jane Lorenz, from USA. Maurice Duruflé‘s “Scherzo” and Jehan Alain‘s “Litanies” were modeled with sense for pliability and sense for dynamics, u Thierryho Escaicha (vyslov Eskeš) v 5 versetoch na “Victimae Pascha and themes. In „Laudes” manyfaceted expression color and registration. In Petr Eben’s piece Mr. Rigot developed a tonal two-voice choral “Oh, the Great God” to atonal harmonic form, but Messiaen‘s “Dieu parmi nous” at the end was thoughtfully and emotionally built with unusual harmonic modulations. It was a peak experience of the festival, in thrilling interpretation of Vincent Rigot, along with the Emmert’s striking work at the beginning of the festival. A long applause and Mr. Rigot’s improvisations given from the public were an excellent treat for Kromeriz. The organist spoke even Czech at the end of the recital.
Also Arvo Pärt‘s “Passio” and Penderecki’s „Passions“ were unforgettable works and performances. Pärt’s extensive, more than one hour and 15 minutes long master work, was harmonically simple, more horizontally perceived, based on soft contrasts of tempo and dynamics, sometimes alternating the single registers, became a new spiritual message of our time for educated and uneducated listeners, being instrumentally impressive work (violin, organ, solo voices, men’s and women’s choir, and so forth). But after 50 minutes of intensive experience from the beautiful, I felt I could not further intensify my deep emotional experience and surpass the limits of emotionality, warmness, devotion, which this wok emanates. After one hour it began to act like a drogue, and the expression began to banalize itself.
Slovak music received this time a great space too due to an excellent piano recital of Ivan Buffa with the Czech premieres of three generations - Vladimír Bokes, Vladimír Godár, Ivan Buffa, Juraj Vajo. The recital pertained also to the best deeds of the festival, we heard a composed through, rhythmically and motivically very alive and postwebernian „Sonata“ dating from 1960 by Roman Berger and „P.F. 2000“, by V. Bokes, a witty solved three minutes piece with a dynamic course, one sounding fifth over the chords, by gradual densification of chords into clusters at the peak of piece preparing the dynamic end. Recital presented two shorter compositions with a meditative base by Peter Machajdík, with emphasis on the perception of single peaceful tones, their further sounding out and colors and pauses, a new impressive “tone minimal”. By an another material, sounded minimalistic and accessible „Emeleia“, based on motive of four tones, descending in repetitions, by Slovak Vladimir Godár, followed by „Variatiations on a silent chord “ by Milana Slavický and the Balad by Hanuš Bartoň. Shorter and contrasting „Bagatelle“ by Petra Oliveira-Bachratá was interesting. „Passacaglia“ by Jozef Podprocký rounded the recital. The pianist Buffa enchanted with a typically French and sound-rhythmically soft „Cloche dadieu et un sourire“ in memorian Messiaen, by Tristan Muraill. „Sonáta“ with a tragic sub tones, at the beginning more „monophonic“, then polystilistic, used effectively convergence of layers and descending clusters with a citation from the Shostakovich‘s 12th symphony by Alfred Schnittke. The composition was undoubtedly of Russian character. The best composition was rhythmically nuanced and demanding „Sequenza“, by Luciano Berio. Zeljenka‘s and Godár’s Violin duets were performed with deep insight of the duo of Zdenka Vaculovičová and Lukáš Pecháček on the author’s concert of Vojtěch Mojžiš, where sounded his premiere of the composition „Hostýn-The Praize of zbožnosti“ June 5th. The cimbalom recital of Enikó Ginzery (Germany-Slovakia), presented pieces by H. J. Hespos, G. Kurtág, T. Brandmüller, L. Janáček, and J. P. Oliveira.
The Czech young authors were represented also by a talented Jan Vrkoč, by a half-concert which impressed me with highly musical and humanistic music of his young opus „Concerto For Violin And Orchestra“, with a „Bartokian“ rhythmical and positive pathos. The audiences were pleased to hear the author’s nice and relevant electronic piece... ........with his imperative of melodic richness especially coming out of the knowledge of violin instrument and his possibilities. The witty „Suite For Violin And Piano“<<<<<<<<<<. Created a peak of his inventional thinking, and poetic „Country With A Rainbow “ and „Verticals – Sonata For Violin Solo“, where the author is completely at home. Further we heard again the unusual instrumental sounding of a „Requiem“ by a young Petr Vaculovič, who is also the director, composed for The Industrial Philharmonic from the city of Náchod, with original instruments of home production (This concert I could not hear but I am familiar with his other compositions premiered before). Also Jana Vöröšová, surprized by a short piece “Turum-durum” for violin, violoncelo and electronics, which brought a thrilling end of the concert.
Štěpánom Filípkom “Hořké humoresky pro violončelo sólo”, ktoré aj originálne stvárnil, „Baladou“ Ruženy Sršňovej pre husle a klavír tiež v autentickom podaní autorky.
The fresh air brought another author’s concert at Forfest. It was a retrospective with a new pieces of Vít Zouhar from the University of Olomouc, in an inspiring place of Rotunda in the Flower Gardens of a Renaissance Italian architect Tencalli. The Ensemble Damian from Olomouc, under the artistic direction of Tomáš Hanzlík performed an beaming, joyful, positive and enchanting concert- a new breadth into a spiritual music and a sort of contribution to forgotten tradition of Baroque blueprint, form and style, combined with a tasteful minimalism, post organ two-voice vocal parts and a beauty of rarely used monody a a voice of countertenors, inspiring to a new expression of pieces. A regular rhythm, a Baroque tempo pulse and violin „arpeggios“ of Italian 18th century gave Zouhar‘s ensemble-instrumental composition „The Gardens Of Heaven’s Pleasures“ a new unforgettable impression that the world is not dark, not unhappy, but full of love and vigorousness. More experimental was a „silent music“ with a video and poems in a German language, combined with electronics from a tape and with the ensemble in „Mente“ from 2008, combining text with music in a manner that a poem works as a magic rhythmical element and semantics. This concert showed that the contemporary polystylistics can be inspired by anything, that „the musical democracy“ is also a tolenance of a few postmodern styles, as it is in the polymorphous character of our philosophy, without “compositional „dogmas“ (as was before a pure dodecaphony). In Bramante’s coupula, in the hall of Rotunda, the first Zouhar’s piece „Pendolo“, sounded as a communication composition, a dialogue, corresponding with a really physically hanging pendulum of the famous French physicist Foucault. The
composition added the layers of instrumental lines, demonstrating that the pendulum movement and variability.
Along with the festival perennial Czech composers as was Bohuslav Martinů, Leoš Janáček, sounded the works of Petr Eben, Jan Novák, Petr Pokorný, new opuses of Jiří Matys, Miloslav Kabeláč, a recently deceased Alois Piňos, Milan Slavický and Hanuš Bartoň which were observed with alive interest and evaluation..
The last chapter of Forfest make the women-composers. Except for mentioned Czech and Slovak women, the Russian-Tatar Sofia Gubajdulina, living in Germany, Gražyna Bacewicz and Lidia Zielińska from Poland, are often performed while Nadja and Lily Boulanger only rarely, as a value from the beginning of the last century. The “Glosa For Viola“ from expressive Lidie Zielinskej, with incention acted by dynamic and contrasts and energy. In „Glosa“ there was well placed excitement of the ”Flight of Bumble bee“ in the performance of Anna Zielińska the daughter. „Ten Preludes“ for violoncello by Sofia Gubajdulin, were attractive in the interpretation of Štepána Filípek, showing a unusual sense for detail. Gubajdulina can write a melody, with silent „slides“ (glissando) on the most unwanted places – between tones, they are not used worn out technical means. She creates by their help tension, awaiting, and curiosity what will come later. Her melody is unwritten, silenced harmonical element of the piece. The „Polish Caprice“ by the most known expressive, clear, logical Polish woman of the 20th century, Gražyna Bacewicz, on a dance theme, written in sovereign way. I hope that the Forfest will continue to present further the works of significant women-composers.
Forfest documented the fact that universalism versus relativism (not Einstein’s relativism), spiritual music is raising and not in the secondary position, in „underground“, where the music was placed more than one half of the century with the banned composers. The secular music may equally show its spiritual measures if it is excellent music. The borders of the both musics are not straight clear, the both create the core of a great art. On the Forfest we heard in juxtaposition compositions written in polytonal, atonal, extended tonal, serial, minimalist musical language, and electronic. The borders are open, maybe the next Forfest could be undertitled Europe Without Borders. The city of Kroměříž, the city of festivals, should cancel the other loud music in the days of the Forfest. During one concert a primitive „Tafel Musik“ sounded from the main plaza and disturbed us in perception of high quality music.
In the 20 year history of Forfest many composers dedicated their works to the festival: from symphonies, chamber cantatas, mass to nocturnes for solo instrument. Let us mention those the most significant : „Apologetics“ by Daniel Lenz from Arizona, „Homage a Orlando Lasso“, by American Canadian William Toutant, „In the Center“ and orchestral „The Time of River“ by American Daniel Kessner. From the Czech and Moravian composers: „Precantio Bona“, a chamber cantata based on religious texts by Jana Grossmann, Symphony Nr. 2 with a subtitle s „Passions“ for 8 solo voices, 2 mixed choirs and a great orchestra by Pavel Zemek, „ The Immemorial Pictures“ for choir and instrumental ensemble by Ilja Hurník, „Ecce Homo “ by František Emmert, the works by recently deceased Petr Pokorný, Greek Dinos Constantinides and Slovak authors Ilja Zeljenka, Peter Machajdík, Peter Zagar. The Forfest presented in the course of 20 years more than 300 authors, among them Messiaen, Penderecki, Pärt, Górecki, Berio, Cage, Boulanger, Gubajdulina, Reich, Schnittke, Riley, Janáček, Martinu, and others, with the home and foreign ensembles such as Agon, Ensemble Mondschein, Musica Gaudeamus, Musica Salutaris all from Prague, Solisti di Praga, Chamber Orchestera of B. Martinu Brno, Dama Dama Brno, Pierot Lunaire Wien, Arcus Ensemble Wien, Archaeus Bucharest, Ensemble Fibonacci Sequence London, Irish Ensemble Inchholm, Alienor France, Ensemble Moens, Veni Bratislava, I Fiatti Bratislava, Contrast Trio Wien, Telesto Trio Holland, Amael, Moravian, Kyncl and Stamic Quartets.
Many home and foreign directors, the hundreds of soloists with more than 300 concerts , 80 exhibitions and performances, symposia’s, concerts from recordings, dance / music and music / video creations, films on composers, and video installations with electronics. Forfest in the present form as a festival of the contemporary music with spiritual orientation has been crystallizing since its third festival from the beginning. The festival originated from the so called musical „sedánky“ (sittings, sessions), which included a reading of poetry, fine arts actions, historical, contemporary, jazz, rock, folk, and underground music (for instance Ivan Hoffmann).
Doc. PhDr. Elena Letňanová, july 15, 2009
