And what Czechs! A real one from Brno, Leos Janacek whom we know fairly well from his operas. But there was also Erwin Schulhoff, a Czech who wanted to take lessons with Debussy but couldn't get along with him and was more seduced by American jazzy tones. And then there was the Czech who later moved to the States, Bohuslav Martinu. In that Sunday "Czech That!" program, all three were featured. An expanded Pavel Haas Quartet opened the concert with the String Sextet (1924) by Erwin Schulhoff. You wonder how that music was received by the concert audience at the time and especially how all those sometimes atonal sounds managed to survive until now and remained appreciated. Quite remarkable. Sometimes soft as silk and then again percussionistically hard with lightning-fast strings. Very different from the String Quartet No.2 by Janacek. A must of course when discussing this composer. It carries the subtitle "Intimate Letters". Moderator and Festival director Pieter Bergé told how Janacek wrote more than 700 actual letters to his, though married, beloved Kamila Stösslová. Languorous and passionate it sounded at times as you might expect from such a musical letter. And also so compellingly played by the Pavel Haas Quartet. It is not the first time this quartet has performed excellently for the Festival. It bears the name of Czech composer Pavel Haas, who perished in Auschwitz. In this first concert there came yet another String Sextet, this time by Bohuslav Martinu. The opening sounded almost like an orchestral arrangement close to a 'standard' from the American Songbook with some swing in between but also atonal touches. And a Lento that is laid down very melodiously and in a (neo)classical way. In the next two parts sometimes vigorous interplay, little solo work but with a lot of unison, almost unison playing of the whole ensemble. Like a little pearl of gentleness it sounded.
A very different ensemble took the stage for the second part of the afternoon concert and with different sounds too. That was I Solisti, a par excellence wind ensemble. But this time the piano of Jan Michiels stood very dominant in the middle. And for the first work there were also strings present, the Concertino by Leos Janacek. Airy animal adventures set to music with sound imitations for the hedgehog, the squirrel, a forest owl.... Work therefore for excellent soloists: horn, bassoon, clarinet but it is the pianist who has to keep everything together, at the end supplemented by the strings. A musical joke Janacek called this little piece.
And the next work also brought a pleasant note: La Revue de Cuisine by Bohuslav Martinu. Conceived as a ballet but by all means call it a humorous jazz suite where the instruments on stage had to play "kitchen" instruments to settle a kitchen quarrel. And they did that according to different rhythms than those from the classical ballet repertoire, including the Argentine tango and the American charleston. But (and to stay in kitchen terms) that sounded rather like a reduction of those popular music styles. An amusing and entertaining parody it was in any case.
Back to Janacek with another airy, playful and cheerful piece of music Mladi (Youth). Now it's the turn of wind instruments only. Still interesting to see and hear just a set of excellent wind players at work, you don't often come across that in a concert hall. Then a break was needed, because some more people came on stage. That had to be for that spectacular finale, a parody of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Molière's play once set to music by Lully. But now in a version by Erwin Schulhoff. Ballet music was the intention, the outcome was pure dance music. You could still hear Stravinsky in it but even more it sounded jazzy. How could it be otherwise, with 5 percussionists on stage and then another 7 wind players in the orchestra pit. And those sounds were all in stark contrast with the names of the sections such as Aria, Sicilienne, Napolitana… Lully was nowhere to be found but the whole thing sounded worthy of Stravinsky. And above them drifted an imaginary Bourgeois Gentilhomme throughout a video by Gerda Dendooven. Again then a discovery at this Festival that celebrated its 30-year anniversary with a reception. Pieter Bergé presented his Manifesto there which opens with the sentence: "Difficult" music does not exist. Would that be the case for you as well? If so, then Festival 20·21 has certainly helped you with that!
