Forfest Kroměříž 2009

Finished the second decade

The 20th anniversary of the Festival Forfest passed quickly like running water. And I cannot count further if the festival runs ten days or twenty-four or forty-seven or even fifty-four?

There was a rule that Forfest in the last years began on Friday‘s afternoons before the last week of the month and ended on Sundays at 10 pm last week of June. The current Forfest was prolongated by means of four concerts and one exhibition two weeks before the official (5. a 12. 6.) and was prolongated with one another exhibition three weeks later after the solemn ending of the festival (21.-28. 7.). The main body of the festival runs in the days of 19. - 26. 6.

In the comparison with the last years, the festival expanded also out of Kromeriz. Some actions took part in smaller cities of a region Kromeriz. This time the first six concerts and the mentioned exhibition were made in Olomouc, in the historical spaces of the St. Vaclav Cathedral and Mozarteum in Archbishop’s Museum, further in the Hall of the Conservatory of Lutheran Academy and in the Gaklery G, while the other exhibition with the opening on 21st of July in the Studio on the Castle in Bratislava.

The main week of the festival used as always the attractive and tourists favorite historical objects of Kroměříž – the Assembly Hall of Archibishops Castle, as well as the Churches of St. Maurice and St. John Baptist. Unique memorials incorporated in the list of UNESCO –were also the places of the festival as Chateau Garden, Rotund of Flower Garden and Mseum of Kroměříž, The Artis Galery and Garden’s Atelier of the Vaculovič’s family. The festival press conference runs in the Ritual Hall of the Renaissance edifice of the City Office.

The artistic interdisciplinaryty – the contemporary musical and fine arts are the most characteristic sign of the festival since its origin even if not of the same value. The 20th year of Forfest emancipated the both arts. Multiplied and more clearly profiled out the exhibitions. There was no more one or two haphazardly accompanying selected fine arts actions, but the project of three autonomous exhibitions with the unifying idea, each one in the other metropolis on „the travel map“ of the Festival. The opening 5. 6. in the Gallery G in Olomouc: Letters To Heaven - installations, photography, pictures and sculptures of contemporary Slovak artists; the opening 21. 6. in Gallerii Artuš in Kroměříž: fotografy of Slovak artist Vladimíra Sidorova;1. opening 21. 7. in Ateliér On the Castle in Bratislava: Václav Vaculovič (Czech Republic) – Abbys of Time, a tribute to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (from the private collections of doc. PhD. E. Letňanová, soloist of one festival concert).

A significant part of the 20th Forfest was the fifth three-day biennale of the colloquium Spiritual Streams In the Contemporary Art, focused on the Multimedial Enjambments (Overlappings.) The interest for active participation came from several European countries. The colloquium was moderated by the Swiss/German musicologist, flautist, and director PhD. Andreas Kröper in the Museum of Kroměříž.

A touch with a completely different ideational world was a project of three performances with American conceptualist Lewis Gesner („Thousand Slashes“, „Drawing of Scores“, „Possibility of Impossible“). The quality of these performances were in the area which I could not identify, and their aesthetic value addressed to me on the level of simple-minded fun. (the sense declared by the title looked to me more like a wish than reached goal.)

The musical actions further dominate the Forfest. This year the festival was funded on three pillars – recitals, author’s concerts, musical hearings- surrounded by other productions.

Recitals: three for organ, two for violin, two for violoncello, one for cimbalom (dulcimer), one for viola, for piano, for voice, for flute, and one for saxophone connected with electrics.

A recital of Slovak violinist Milan Paľa and his piano accompaniment partner Ondrej Olos (Bokes, Emmert) – was a strong performance worth of any world festival. An excellent interpreter would be lost without excellent compositions. And Paľa made an excellent choice. „La Folia“ for violin solo by Vladimír Bokes – was a confrontational dense music with material for a supreme Beethoven-like sonata presented on the limits of possibilities of his instrument, arising a feeling of ecstasies, and persuasion radiating interpreter, in ecstasy, brakes the string and his instrument. Abrupt brakes between wild furioso and silent, gentle flagiolents. The selections from the eleven-part „Last Judgment“, reflexion on the Evangelium of St. Mathews and St. Lucas for solo violin by František G. Emmert – extremely expressive composition loaded by matter, who similarly like in the case of Bokes used all possibilities of his instrument, mastered with amazing lightness, bravura, and self evidence. Similarly there were reversals, turns. Against firmly and heroically grasped expression there was built a mercy, favor expressed by a gentle and soft modality. Against aroused passion juxtapositioned soft prayer-like chant and hues of colors. The author proved that the form and tectonics held well firmly and elastically at all variety and vanity of his inventions. In the next emotion-ally pointed Emmert’s composition – the Fourth Sonata Mission“ in five movements for violin and piano – I began seriously think over the absolute contradiction between the personality of the author and character of his pieces. During the performance of this ultra-furioso piece the theatrical words like God’s whip, Last judgment day, came to my mind. In the second movement I was enchanted by fine music intermingled by juicy, anti-noise cantabile and graded wavy lines. The fourth movement was full of powerful expressive span, strong stream of affetuoso, beautifully sounded pizzicatos in pianissimo with dropping silent tones of piano. In the end sounded a beautiful angelic music. All this spoke quasi about an experienced drama, catharsis and forgiveness in the soul of the author. Nonetheless, looking into the score I was taken out of my mistake about programmatic music of these movements, possibly about their apparent programmness: Aria I and II, Preludio, Fuga, Ciaccona.

(About the other phenomenal performance giving testimony about unique level of an young Slovak interpretation art, I know sorry, only from the enthusiastic repercussions of my musical friends: about the recital of Slovak pianist Ivan Buffa with pieces of Slovak and Czech composers.)

Among extraordinary recitals concerning their quality, deliberately I do not mention performance of baritone Petr Matuszek with a mezzo-soprano Markéta Dvořáková with the pianist Roman Pallas. M. Dvořáková possesses an interesting voice fund, she captivated for instance by the interpretation of Marek Kopytman and Miloslav Kabeláč, but it is difficult for me to measure her qualities with those phenomenal dispositions of Petr Matuszek. His interpretation for instance of György Kurtág‘s „Three Songs to Poems by János Pilinszky“, op. 11 (a gamut of various ways of tone creation, inspired by the Orient, which were not assignee even in detail by the author, but were finished by the interpreter, changing nasal tones and overtones on one tone. The cultivated gradations were built out, sometimes with dramatic operatic chant (in the piano a contrast of a simple accompaniment and virtuosic passages and colorfully sounding silent areas) affected me so much that I found the master in the intermission and asked him to show me the music. But also the Invocations by Piňos to Psalms 130, 121 a 103 for baritone solo (urgent, passionate adoration, dramatic tapering in the Psalm103. optimistic even childish playful sounding. It was reminiscence on the doyen of the Brno compositional Modernism, a kind and wise man, who the last year was among us on the Forfest. Also especially „Drei Liebeslieder“ by Witold Szalonk (very silent, free and gentle position, interestingly used microintervals, striking dragging up of the vocal by the piano, many layers, and sometimes impressionistic color, a deep humbleness, and veracity in sounding; in piano we heard monophonous methods in equal rhythmical values under a long pedaling, witty omitting sometimes, perfectly interconnected piano and baritone parts) were the compositions and unforgettable interpretation.

The recitals of the professor of organ at the Prague Academy of Music Jaroslav Tůma marked themselves by an excellent level (Tůma, Jirák, Reiner, Glass, Pärt), then Brno violoncellist Jan Škrdlík with the pianist Petra Besa-Pospíšilová (J. Novák, Matys, Martinů) – sorry I know this only from the talking with friends and Slovak soloist Enikö Ginzery living in Germany (Hespos, Kurtág, Janáček, Brandmüller, Oliveira).

The recital of Tůma was built on ineffective, but structurally thoughtfully constructed pieces. The most captivating was Tuma’s introductory „Elegy For Valdštejn“, dedicated to the city of Cheb, with flowing chords, two – to three-layered interestingly differentiated registration, and „Three Preludes“ by Karl Reiner (especially the first prelude of passacaglia-like character). I am not sure, if in the programming of the concert there were happily placed the compositions of the same expression with another two pieces of (eternal) minimalist composition by Philip Glass „Mad Rush“ and Arvo Pärt „Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentäler“.

The recital of Enikö Ginzery I would place among excellent ones, except for two matters. It seems to me, that she programmed also the pieces with which she dazzled two years before. If it would not be so successful, maybe I would not notice this. And why the artist devoted so many minutes of her precious time to reading and talking about the history of her instrument? Ginzery is too excellent interpreter, in order to speak on educational information which can be found in the literature or via internet.

I have valued the programming in the recital of young organist Hana Ryšavá. It was not only interesting to hear the program based on the women-composers (Demessieux, Barraine, Gubajdulina, Boulanger, Diener), but I could taste interesting and unknown pieces to me „Te Deum“, op. 11 by Jeanne Demessieux, „Hell und Dunkel“ by Sofia Gubajdulina and „Prelude and fugue on theme of Jewish prayer by“ Elsa Barraine, with an exception of compositionally poor „Fiesta“ by Diener.

On the recital of the violoncellist Štěpán Filípek with violinist Anna Veverková and electronical cooperation of a young composer Jana Vorošová I was captivated by the world premiere of the final piece „Turum-Durum“ by J. Vorošová for violin, violoncello and electronics. It was a strong and fascinating piece, in which the author worked with electronics even elementally and similarly led the line of „real“ violin and cello. In the whole, attractive on this composition were two-pole equalization of theme and expression, ending in blissed consonance. An excellent composition. The world premiere of timbre „Acrimonious humoresques“ or(according to A. P. Čechov) for violoncello solo from the main protagonist of the concert, was also captivating and proven (attested) compositions by Penderecki, Gubajdulina and Petr Pokorný (by the performance of „Four Nocturnes“ for violoncello solo as a recollection of recently deceased composer Petr Pokorný, a frequent guest of the Forfest).

The only disappointment for me was the violin recital of Polish violinist Anna Zielińska. I was enthusiastic two years ago about her performance of high quality inclining to creative way toward New Music. Who knows the well-known repertory of Meistestücks by Reger – „Suite for viola solo“ or Stravinski‘s – „Elegy“, he could not conceal his disappointment. Her reputation (Zielińska) was saved by the „Polish Caprice“ by Grażyna Bacewicz and an exquisite composition of grading waltz caprice „Głosa“ by her mother Lidia Zielińska. (An apology for an unfavorable impression could be noisy, aggressive rock music from the close discotheque, penetrating even through a meter-thick stone walls of the St. Maurice Cathedral. This event of noisy music accurse each year, by the mistake of District Office in Kroměříž, which allows such event in the time of a significant international festival actions in the city.

From the recitals I would like to mention the recital of a Duo Messieri- Selva from Italy with the pieces by Riley, Cage and mainly Messieri’s piece „Forever“ for soprano saxophone, triangle and electronics, which sounded in the world premiere, which I could not hear.

At the end of talking on recitals, I would like o mention the organ recital and final concert of Vincent Rigot from France, at the Forfest. He not only captivated my mind by the French program (Alain, Duruflé, Escaich, Messiaen), where he incorporated Eben’s beautifully elastically and colorfully sounding chorale „Oh, The Great God“, but he surprised in the end of concert by an excellent Czech language. In „Litanies“, but mainly in „Scherzo“ by Jean Alain, he showed a bravura technique, a colorful invention, (in „Litanies“ almost beyond the limits of litanies). Excellently sounded for instance a mobile fifths ostinato at the end of „Scherzo“. I would like to also mention „The Five Verses on Victims of Paschali laudes“ by Thierry Escaich (an exquisite work with agogics, phrasing, caesuras /?/, the composition breathed, and filled us with enthusiasm). Nevertheless, the greatest experience came from „Dieu parmi nous“ by Olivier Messiaen (ideationally rich piece, played with splendor, bravura and involvement. Fantastic metrorhythm, phrasing, register solutions, micro- and macrotectonics. An excellent chord and harmony akordický a harmonický development. Exquisite modeling of consonances and dissonances The interpret became a „director of ideas“).

The author’s concerts. The only real author’s program was a retro concert from the compositions of Associate Professor of music theory Vít Zouhar at the Palacky University of Olomouc, in Moravia, a part of Czech Republic. Two concerts were dedicated prevailingly to compositions of the professor František G. Emmert at the JAMU University in Brno, and one a retro- half concert of pieces by the Prague composer and a regular guest of Forfest, Jan Vrkoč.

Jan Grossmann, pro OPUS MUSICUM