musica.cz

Contents of Czech Music 2006 Issue = No. 2

What You Do=20 Is Only Partly the Result of Your Will. Interview = withMiroslav = Srnka=20 - by Petr Bakla=20
Czech Museum of Music - by Gabriela N=ECmcov=E1=20
Prague as a European Cultural Metropolis of the Inter-War=20 Period - by Vlasta Reittererov=E1=20
Causa Wozzeck 1926 - by Jitka Ludvov=E1=20
The German Brno - by Tereza P=E1vov=E1=20
EuroArt International Festival - Public Relations =
Musica Florea - by Denisa Dohnalov=E1=20
Jakub Hr=F9=9Aa - The Secret Weapon of Czech = Music - by Lubo=9A=20 Stehl=EDk=20
What Did Prague Mean For Mozart? - by Tomislav = Volek=20
Reviews

What You Do Is Only Partly the Result of Your Will. Interview with = Miroslav=20 Srnka

Petr Bakla=20

=84May 1, 2004 was the 100st anniversary of the death of Anton=EDn = Dvo=F8=E1k.=20 Although Dvo=F8=E1k is considered a bright and cheerful composer, the = beginning of=20 his career was overshadowed by death. His first three children died in = rapid=20 succession in the years 1875-1877 and it was under these tragic = circumstances=20 that Dvo=F8=E1k, now in his mid-thirties and once again childless, wrote = the first=20 of his phenomenal works. My piece is dedicated to Dvo=F8=E1k in those = years. The=20 name of the piece is borrowed from the famous Beethoven piano sonata. = The famous=20 introductory cadence from this sonata also appears in my piece three = times -=20 once for each of Dvo=F8=E1k=92s lost children.=93=20

This commentary to the piece Les Adieux evokes the human and musical = world of=20 the composer MIROSLAV SRNKA (*1975) better than I could myself. It = beautifully=20 reflects Srnka=92s conscious and on many levels considered way of = relating himself=20 to the (Czech) musical tradition (incidentally, as a musicologist-editor = Srnka=20 is concerned precisely with Dvo=F8=E1k) and his as it were = straightforward but=20 unsentimental emotional approach to composing. All this combined with = the=20 sophistication and complete modernism of his musical language and with = awareness=20 of the world context =96 the piece was written for the Ensemble = Intercontemporain.=20

In your music you evidently use the idioms of spectral music, and = a great=20 many composers are writing in this way at the moment. What do you think = gives=20 your pieces added value and raises them above the interchangeable = products of=20 dozens of IRCAM visiting students? Good question. First and foremost = we=92re all=20 special and no two people write the same notes.=20

I would object slightly to the word =93raise=94 =96 I don=92t believe = you can say=20 whose personal expressive testimony stands =93higher=94. It=92s not my = place to judge=20 and sometimes it isn=92t even clear to me why it=92s my notes that = appeal to someone=20 and not notes by somebody else I happen to think is fantastic. In = general I=20 think that what you call =93added value=94 consists only in the depth = and honesty of=20 what a person is trying to express through the notes, and that it = doesn=92t have=20 anything to do with style. You classify me with IRCAM visiting students, = and=20 that=92s quite amusing, because compared to some of the others I had a = very=20 =93fleeting=94 relationship to the place. Perhaps the difference is that = I came to=20 France to find out how people I already knew were thinking in a similar = way were=20 actually doing things. Anyway, IRCAM is something like a programming=20 environment, not a nest of a particular style. Today a huge number of = people who=20 compose in very different ways are all lumped together as spectralists, = IRCAM=20 types and so on, but it=92s only by setting them in the context of all = the other=20 possibilities open to people today that you could call them a group at = all. The=20 internal stylistic differences between then are as huge as between all = the=20 composers of the 19th century put together. And so from the style point = of view=20 it=92s rather as if you were asking what added value Brahms has over = Berlioz =96 not=20 that I=92d have the nerve to compare myself to Brahms, of course! By the = way,=20 according to more than one comment that got back to me, for the French=20 themselves my notes have something like the status of the =93earthy = primitivism=94=20 of Mussorgsky. So it=92s a paradox that back in my country I=92ve = already been=20 accused more than once of Boulezism....=20

Well, let me put it another way then...What is original about the = music of=20 Mirek Srnka?=20

Maybe there=92s nothing original about it, or I don=92t know how to = express it in=20 words. Because that=92s the last question I would ask myself. I even = believe=20 asking it is a bad thing in itself. For me what is basic is whether the = music of=20 Mirek Srnka is recognisable, and I=92m told that sometimes it is now. I = write=20 =93sometimes=94 deliberately, since my way of composing definitely = hasn=92t yet fully=20 crystallised. I consider myself a beginner, because for example while my = first=20 student work actually to be performed was eight years ago, with few = exceptions=20 none of the works that I acknowledge and =93allow=94 to be performed = again is more=20 than three and a half years old... Oh yes, and I=92m definitely original = among my=20 contemporaries for having a wife and two children and writing about = them. Almost=20 exclusively.=20

Nonetheless I still assume that you=92re using the technical = tricks of=20 spectralism.=20

If I had to analyse myself in some way, then I=92d say that there = were big=20 differences between my notes and spectralist ones. First of all I never = use=20 directly computer-generated structures. I just take ideas from what the = software=20 can do to manually create a kind of harmonic-kinetic background for = concrete=20 composition. And the composing is then completely independent of any = kind of=20 computer techniques. In the second place my notes have a very dense = polyphonic=20 structure for spectralism. I don=92t know why but it always matters a = great deal=20 to me that both the harmonies and the individual voices should make = sense. It=20 may sound old-fashioned, but at the same time I really enjoy = =93cracking=94 it, it=92s=20 often like a puzzle. I often try to interlard harmonic and gestural = ideas=20 derived from spectralism with a rhythmic-lineal structure in which you = could see=20 a glint of that =93Boulezism=94. Maybe there=92s something rough in an = eastern way=20 about this kind of combination, because in my view it=92s not much in = fashion in=20 France: to take one side or the other is also a bit of a =93political=94 = attitude.=20 Maybe I=92m wrong, since it=92s not something =93talked about=94 but = just something you=20 can sniff in the air. Anyway, in the third place, I work almost = exclusively with=20 semitones. I=92m quite seriously investigating the possibilities of = sound=20 simulation of microtonal terrain using semitone notation. And so I take = it as a=20 great honour if after listening to my work someone asks, =93Were there = quarter=20 tones there?=94=20

You can hardly be surprised by accusations of =93Boulezism=94. On = the one hand=20 it=92s understandable =96 you=92re hardly going to deny that your music = belongs to=20 that kind of circle in general stylistic framework. But above all: = =93Czech music=20 has always had a very strong capacity to assimilate =96 to accept and = transform=20 impulses from many different parts of musical Europe. For the domestic=20 restorationary tendencies, however, what has been characteristic has = been a fear=20 of =93foreign influences=94 which again and again have been regarded as = destructive,=20 subversive forces. It would be interesting to catalogue the arsenal of = Czech=20 fears and warnings against these =93foreign influences=94. The = terminology used in=20 successive periods says a great deal in itself: German music, Teutonic = music,=20 French goods, Jewish-Bolshevik music, degenerate western music and so = on.=94=20 (Vladim=EDr L=E9bl, see CM 2/2005) The word =93Boulezism=94 fits into = the list very=20 well. Your music frankly identifies with those foreign influences so = alien to=20 our healthy Czech musicality and refined feeling for moderation =96 and = you=92re a=20 spectralist, a Boulezist, a lover of Frog-eaters and an opportunist and = you know=20 where you can shove your structural differences... Do you feel these = kinds of=20 pressure?=20

Now you=92ve made my day by applying a quote from Vladim=EDr L=E9bl = to me, because=20 he was always my favourite Czech musicologist. He could write = fantastically,=20 perceived connections and what=92s more he wasn=92t afraid of daring = hypotheses, and=20 that=92s rare in Czech musicology.... Yes, I=92ve heard it many times: = We=92re not=20 going to play Srnka because it=92s too difficult, it=92s too Boulezian, = it=92s not=20 Czech. So that=92s the first, hidden pressure, the fact that very few = people want=20 to play my music in the Czech Republic. Earlier it bothered me a lot but = now I=20 don=92t care at all, because I only want to have my music played by = people who=20 enjoy it and choose to play it voluntarily. You can=92t compromise with = yourself=20 just for one opportunity. And so no performance is better than a = resentful=20 performance. Paradoxically, I didn=92t feel much pressure at the = academy. At=20 seminars you have to know how to defend yourself even against completely = opposite opinions, and sometimes discussions end in complete deadlock, = but=20 looking back I value the experience. It taught me to answer questions I = wouldn=92t=20 have asked myself. In the end that always does you good.... But what = annoys me=20 more is the fact that contemporary Czech music doesn=92t know how to = define=20 itself. It fights against influences because it doesn=92t actually know = what it is=20 itself. When you are capable of proudly defining yourself, then foreign=20 influences don=92t have the power to bother you. I=92m often asked to = describe Czech=20 contemporary music in some way, to characterise it, but I=92ve found = that I can=92t=20 do it. And yet there are plenty of talented individuals. Maybe we could = push=20 L=E9bl=92s idea to the point of absurdity and say that Czech music is = defined by its=20 inability to define itself.=20

Otherwise you seem to be pretty successful.=20

What does that mean? That you have the chance to work with a few = famous=20 musicians? Hardly... Success is probably just if someone - maybe just = one person=20 - experiences something listening to your music that they have never = experienced=20 before. You can=92t measure that by numbers of performances. It=92s much = more=20 gratifying when a performer decides to include your piece in his or her=20 repertoire or when there are people prepared to sacrifice the quiet of = their=20 evening to listen to a recording of one of your pieces.=20

I=92ve noticed that you always talk about your music as = =93notes=94.=20

For me =93notes=94 is a kind of last resort expression, because = calling my stuff=20 =93music=94, =93works=94 or even =93compositions=94 strikes me as = slightly pompous. I=92m=20 probably not being precise, because I=92m not very concerned about the = written=20 record, in the sense that my conception of a piece is to do with sound, = what can=20 be heard, the acoustic. The record and notes are just a medium and are = the last=20 things to happen in the process, and as it were =93secondary=94. And I = actually=20 strive for the most classic kind of notation, because the fetishism of=20 innovations in notation strikes me as pretty self-indulgent. Maybe I = ought to=20 describe my stuff as my =93sounds=94 instead of my =93notes=94.=20

The abstract conception of music (as creation =93ex nihilo=94, or = from the=20 most elementary elements, in fact from those individual neutral = =93notes=94) is=20 today in retreat, in my view. The fashion is for dealing with already = existing:=20 integrations of idioms, the juxtaposition of the disparate=20 (=93recontextualisation=93), plundrophonics, remix... all of this is = affecting=20 so-called contemporary classical music as well. And so while some people = are=20 looking for new ways forward by appropriating rock idioms, stitching = together=20 Ars Nova with the Backstreet Boys and rewriting or copying Bach, it = seems to be=20 precisely that =93Boulezism=94 and spectralism that is as it were = stubbornly=20 defending and persisting in modernist positions. Do you believe in the=20 possibility of finding new ways forward through new compositional = technologies,=20 pitch-class systems and so on?=20

Even though today it is a very unfashionable view =96 and I very much = believe=20 this situation is only temporary =96 of course I believe in it, because = to=20 proclaim that the development of compositional technologies and systems = is now=20 pass=E9 would be as naive as to say that Czech grammar and vocabulary = are now=20 fixed once and for all. Post-Modernism announced that innovations in = composition=20 technology were no longer possible, but then quite unexpectedly along = came=20 G=E9rard Grisey and spectralism and offered a composition technology = that could be=20 internally developed, entirely contrary to the Post-Cage prophecies. In = any=20 case, if you take everything coming after the Modern, then in a spirit = of=20 pluralism you have to allow everything that wishes to go on = =93developing=94 the=20 same right to existence as everything else. The concept of development = is as=20 valid as the concept that dumps it. The issue is just about the breadth = of the=20 term and tolerance for the development of any compositional language, = even one=20 you find repugnant. And even today compositional language is continuing = to=20 develop, but there are lots of compositional languages, and no single = observable=20 current.=20

Don=92t you ever have an urge to undercut the polished stylistic = purity of=20 your pieces by using references or allusions?=20

The truth is that for the moment the only kind I write is the = classical,=20 self-contained, and as you nicely put it, =93polished=94 pieces =96 both = in stylistic=20 terms and in form. However, various other more open paths that other = people take=20 appeal to me as well, but so far I haven=92t got to them, and of course = I don=92t=20 rule out that I may some time in the future. You can=92t get to them = just by your=20 own decision. What you do is only partly the result of your will. To = some extent=20 you are only an observer of events inside you.Perhaps I=92m too = =93polished=94, I=20 myself as a person.... Although it may not seem that way, style overlaps = attract=20 me a great deal and I even use references quite often. But for the = moment they=20 are probably too encoded, lodged too deep inside the structure to creep = through=20 that stylistic polish. It=92s common for me to use quotations from my = favourite=20 Czech classical music, and I=92ve written a piece in which there are = hidden=20 variations on the Star Trek music, and don=92t even ask me about the = =93pop=94 hits I=20 used as a model for the musical plan that runs slow-downed by a factor = of five=20 behind my chamber opera Wall. And to go back to those technologies =96 = isn=92t a=20 good Backstreet Boys remix also part of a compositional technology? Of = course it=20 is, just like Bach=92s appropriation of Vivialdi=92s concertos and his = rewriting=20 them in his own way (and under his name). Nonetheless we can detect = Bach=92s=20 personal compositional technology in these transcriptions. Why? Because = it=92s=20 behind that remix of Vivaldi. Bach just chose the Vivaldi as material = because he=20 felt that it was the right material for his =93technology=94. For the = moment I don=92t=20 have the kind of personal composition technology that would enable me to = remix=20 something convincingly. I tried it quite overtly in Moldau Remixed, = where I poke=20 a little fun at Smetana. Teasing is a sign of affection=85=20

What is actually your relationship to Czech music? I mean, to what = extend=20 do you see yourself as continuing those rather fragile modernist = currents in=20 Czech post-war (and perhaps even pre-war) music, and in what way if at = all these=20 are important to you? I happen to know that one of your musicologist = interests=20 is Czech music of the 1960s =96 what in your view is the position and = significance=20 of this essentially now closed chapter in the context of European = classical=20 music? Do we have anything to take pride in?=20

We cerrtainly do have something to take pride in. The 1960s were = clearly the=20 strongest period in Czech post-war music. They had their special = charisma of=20 their own, which has not yet come back. It was taking giant steps to = make up for=20 the distance that had been lost in the 1950s. It didn=92t quite make it, = but it=20 almost did, and left behind several works of permanent and international = value.=20 I would very much like to see them revitalised in international = repertoire.=20 Music like Jan Klus=E1k=92s Variations on a Theme by Gustav Mahler (see = CM 4/2004)=20 or Lubo=9A Fi=9Aer=92s Fifteen Prints after D=FCrer=92s Apocalypse, Jan = Rychl=EDk=92s African=20 Cycle, Miloslav Kabel=E1=E8=92s percussion things (see CM 1/2005), Marek = Kopelent=92s=20 chamber stuff, are simply =93Jahrzehntwerke=94. Only the Czech = contribution to=20 internationally stable repertoire still so far ends in 1959, with the = death of=20 Bohuslav Martin=F9. But what on earth is a =93closed=94 epoch? = Everything that has=20 come to be included in active repertoire since Gregorian Chant is a = matter of=20 =93closed=94 epochs, and it still has plenty that is new to say to us. = So why should=20 something incomparably more recent have nothing new to say to us? = What=92s more,=20 relationships of influence and inspiration are much more subtle than it = seems at=20 first hand. All the contemporary music of today is for the most part = living off=20 what was discovered in the 1950s and 1960s. Even the music that = deliberately=20 denies it. You are right in saying that I wrote a musicological = dissertation on=20 Czech orchestral music of the 1960s. But the strange thing is that I = didn=92t in=20 any way choose this theme because of my composing interests, because = these have=20 nothing in common with this music. Here the separation between composer = and=20 musicologist was complete, but even so there are some =93universal=94 = things that=20 even the composer can take from this scholarly research: Kabel=E1=E8=92s = uncompromising purity, Fi=9Aer=92s emotion in austerity, Klus=E1k=92s = courage to follow=20 visions. But there can be no talk of continuation =96 successorship in = composing.=20 My relationship to Czech music could probably best be described as an = umbilical=20 cord. I get nutrients from it. Only much more Dvo=F8=E1kian and = Jan=E1=E8ekian nutrients=20 than any =93fragilely Modernist=94 ones.

MIROSLAV SRNKA (*1975 in = Prague). He=20 has studied composition and musicology in Prague, Berlin and Paris. The = more=20 than twenty already performed pieces by Srnka are distinctive for his = striving=20 for a virtuoso grasp of solo instruments and the use of various post-war = compositional techniques, as well as a harmony and timbre quality = inspired by=20 spectral music and structures created using computer aided music = composition.=20 Srnka have collaborated with renowned contemporary music performers, = such as=20 Arditti String Quartet, Ensemble InterContemporain, Ensemble = Itin=E9raire, Leipzig=20 Sinfonietta, Firebird Ensemble, Camilla Hoitenga, Sylvio Gualda etc.). = Deutsche=20 Staatsoper Berlin Unter den Linden commissioned the short opera Wall as = a part=20 of the project Seven Attempted Escapes From The Silence. His works are = published=20 by B=E4renreiter Verlag. In addition to composing Srnka devotes himself = to editing=20 and musical journalism. The centre of his musicological interest is = music after=20 1945. Srnka=92s String Quartet No. 3 performed by Arditti String Quartet = has been=20 included in the CD-anthology of young Czech composers Young Blood. = (Existing and=20 new subscribers to Czech Music, please request your free CD at=20 info@czech-music.net.) www.srnka.cz=20