Details
As my former composition mentor and dear friend Otomar Kvěch remarked: “It is a young and first large-scale work, he needed to unleash the devils right from the first measure.” In the opening 13/16 measure, the lower strings introduce the idea of unfolding all twelve pitches in a modal appearance of minor and major thirds, thus creating, dependent on the context, ambivalent neighboring tones and a polyphonic texture and lay out the unfolding principle for the rest of the work. Full of twists, Sinfonia n.1 contains interpolations throughout the divergent timbres of each instrument groups, rhythmical and array of raucous percussion, being contrasted by lyrical sections of an amplified classical guitar, isolated saxophones, blending synth with the woodwind section and many other explorational comparisons.
The contrasting second movement, which is significantly longer, focuses on rather an inward struggle between instruments’ ranges and timbres, creating musical stories – their contention and reconciliation.
Recording:
played by the symphonic orchestra of the students of the Prague Conservatoire
conductor: Alena Jelínková
sponsor: Unicorn, Prague conservatoire
video: Removies, Jakub Miřejovský
sound: Aliaksandr Yasinski
