Czech Electroacoustic Music 2

The second CD of Czech electroacoustic music which was produced by the Czech Republic's Society for Electroacoustic Music (SEAH), and is dedicated to the memory of Karel Odstrčil, the leading proponent of the organization and dissemination of electroacoustic music in the Czech Republic after 1990. Due to his ambition SEAH produced its first CD of Czech electroacoustic music.
Unfortunately, Karel Odstrčil did not live to see this CD's production for regretfully passed away on 21 May 1997. Thus, in memory of Karel Odstrčil, SEAH is including his last completed electroacoustic composition.

To read more about Czech electroacoustic music and its history, here are two sources.
Zajíček, Libor. "History of Electroacoustic Music in the Czech and Slovak Republics, The." Leonardo Music Journal vol. 5 (1995): 39–48.
——. Oral History of Electro-Acoustic Music of the Czech and Slovak Republics, An. Master's thesis, San Jose State University, 1995.
All this CD's compositions were produced in the studios of the Czech Radio in Prague, except for Pavel Kopecký's piece, which was produced at the Electroacoustic Studio at the Academy of Performing Arts, Film Faculty.

    1  Karel Odstrčil  Pět etap (Five Stages)
Pět etap for trombone and magnetic tape is in five movements: Huge Enthusiasm, Huge Mess, Search of the Guilty, Punishment of the Innocent, and the Reward of the Non-Participants. Titles of the movements are reproduced during the concert both in Czech and Russian. Odstrčil adds humorously: "It is in Russian so that some foreigners, attending the concert, "understand" well." Pět etap was realized in 1996. Radomil Hertl performs the trombone.

    2  Rudolf Růžička  Aves
The composition Aves (Birds) arose on the basis of natural sounds of birds. The singing of various species of the Sylvia bird (especially of the Sylvia nisoria), distinguished by the repeated sharp and snarl sounds, was chosen for the sampling and subsequent use of the bird's sounds. "Aves" was realized during the end of 1994 with the help of the utilization of the musical computer program CCOMP, primarily due to its possibilities of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic modifications.

    3  Radek Rejšek  Carmen campanarum
Making use of bell and vocal sounds, Rejšek worked with sounds of Prague church, Loreta's bells and clock, which represent the passing of time. Various forms of the liturgical text "Deo gratias" appear in the composition just like the bell sounds. The sound of the bell is a symbol of God, and is a song of praise and thanks for our present existence. It received second prize in the international electroacoustic music competition, MUSICA NOVA, in 1992.

    4  Marta Jiráčková  Bláznivý rej (Crazy Dance)
Bláznivý rej, the third movement of the six-movement electroacoustic ballet, Loď bláznů (Ship of Fools), inspired by the painting with the identical name by Hieronym Bosch, resolves opposite human relationships on a boat. Man's laughter and gasp are mixed with woman's laughter which changes with sobbing, as it is in people with a spiritual imbalance. The number of voices becomes multiplied just as the musical material. The dance's rhythm accelerates and multiplies in several stages until the ending, which climaxes in a crazy dance ecstasy. Song and voices are those of Marta Krásová and Michal Pavlata, and Marta Jiráčková performs on synthesizers.

    5  Miroslav Pudlák  Dejte mi pevný bod (Give Me a Firm Ground)
The reason for the creation of Dejte mi pevný bod was the composer's many-year dream to search an "unstable" musical space where all tones always slowly fall in a glissando, while their significant harmonic relationships and melodic movement do not change. Pudlák adds: "New sounds constantly appear in the upper frequency range and mix into slowly the falling harmony. Others slowly disappear in the lowest frequency range and so on. It should suggest a state of dizziness as being in a planetarium."

      6  Michal Košut  Kometa (Comet)
Expressive capabilities of the voice oscillate between Sprechgesang and song in Kometa, where the voice is technically edited slightly. The accompanied synthesizer part aids in the complement of the text's atmosphere, written by Josef Souchop. The soprano is Mária Vaniaková.

      7  Pavel Kopecký  Zátiší s pierotem (Still Life with Pierot)
It is not necessary to describe Pierot in this composition, which is for piano and accompanying electronic medium, but only add a few words about its form and compositional material. The composition is in three movements, with the solo keyboard instrument dominating as in chamber music. Kopecký combined acoustic and electroacoustic sounds in a traditional, dramatic form. Věra Kopecká performs the piano.

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Text: Rudolf Růžička, Libor Zajíček

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