...composers are rare creatures; they hear what others only sense, but they can shape it and write it down in musical notation – we studied the compositions of the greatest masters, lived surrounded by their works, woke up and fell asleep with them, and decided to record them here for you...
RECORDINGS OF 21st-CENTURY COMPOSITIONS BY OUR ARTISTS
At the end of the year 2020 and in the first half of 2021, we managed to record a number of pieces for the film performance “Aude – Manifesto of the new suprarealism,” a project by Canadian producer Thomas McComb. Here are some of them:
JAN HANOUSEK/MATÉRIE
Jan Škrdlík and Jan Hanousek, cello
Poem “Reality” by Jan Škrdlík
– recited by Jan Hanousek
Studio Π-vox, Brno, 12/12/2020
MARTIN JAKUBÍČEK/INTERMEZZO
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Poem “Reality” by Jan Škrdlík
– recited by Richard Wilson
Studio Π-vox, Brno, 29/4/2021
and
home studio, Redruth (UK), 20/4/2021
7.83
Musical improvisation
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Alena Kubešová – vocals
Studio Π-vox, Brno, 19/6/2021
HAYDEN WAYNE/DANCE NO. 6
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Petra Besa – piano
Studio Π-vox, Brno, 17/3/2021
and
home studio, Basel, 24/2/2021
REALITY ABOVE US
Musical improvisation
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Antonín Stříž – drums
Jiří Netík – keyboards
Poem “Reality” by Jan Škrdlík
– recited by the author (in Spanish)
Studio of Contemporary Music
at the “Stará Mosilana,” Brno
2/12/2020
When we were still children, we used to hear that 20th-century compositions were something “indigestible,” “too modern,” or “inaccessible to ordinary people”... But that has changed! The taste of the musical public has matured, and today, some compositions of the last century—once misunderstood by many—are considered classics. Here are a few of them:
BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ 2nd CELLO SONATA
Poco andante. Moderato
Andante
Allegro ma non Presto
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Petra Besa – piano
Shire Hall, Hereford (UK), 12/11/2016, Live
OLIVIER MESSIAEN Louange a l'Éternité de Jésus
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Šárka Besperátová – piano
Zaragoza, Spain
Auditorio – Palacio de Congresos
26/11/2003, Live
CLAUDE DEBUSSY SONATA FOR CELLO AND PIANO
Prologue. Lent
Sérénade. Modérément animé
Final. Animé
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Petra Besa – piano
Brno, Besední dům, 28/3/2006, Live
RECORDINGS OF 19th-CENTURY COMPOSITIONS BY OUR ARTISTS
What tremendous development takes place in music throughout the 19th century! At its beginning, in 1808, Beethoven completes his Cello Sonata, Op. 69—a charming, melodic work that still fulfills the ideals of Classical form. By its end, in 1886, Camille Saint-Saëns in The Swan and César Franck in his Sonata in A major abandon restraint to open the way for a broad range of worldviews, from the dreamy to the sharply realistic... Judge for yourself:
L. VAN BEETHOVEN SONATA IN D MAJOR, OP. 102/2
Allegro con brio
Adagio con molto sentimento d'affetto
Allegro – Allegro fugato
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Petra Besa – piano
Great Hall of the Bishop's Palace
Hereford (UK), 12/11/2022, Live
Intro: Richard Wilson recites a couplet by Jan Škrdlík
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS / THE SWAN
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Petra Besa – piano
Shire Hall, Hereford (UK), 14/11/2015, Live
CÉSAR FRANCK SONATA IN A MAJOR FOR CELLO AND PIANO
Allegro ben moderato
Allegro
Recitativo-Fantasia. Largamente
Allegro poco mosso
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Petra Besa – piano
Shire Hall, Hereford (UK), 14/11/2015, Live
RRECORDINGS OF 18th CENTURY COMPOSITIONS – JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
One of the greatest figures of the (not only) 18th century is undoubtedly Johann Sebastian Bach. Listen to the recordings of all six of his Cello Suites (1720), which our agency gradually produced from 1997 to 2013:
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 1 in G Major for Solo Cello
Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Minuet I and II
Gigue
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Church of the Order of Friars Minor,
Vranov near Brno, 17/3/1997
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 3 in C Major for Solo Cello
Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Bourrée I and II
Gigue
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Former Benedictine Monastery,
Bursfelde, Germany, 25–26/6/2013
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 5 in C Minor for Solo Cello
Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Gavotte I and II
Gigue
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Former Benedictine Monastery,
Bursfelde, Germany, 28–29/5/2000
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 2 in D Minor for Solo Cello
Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Menuet I and II, Bourrée I and II
Gigue
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Former Benedictine Monastery, Bursfelde, Germany, 26–27/9/2007
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major for Solo Cello
Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Bourrée I and II
Gigue
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Former Benedictine Monastery, Bursfelde, Germany, 17–19/8/2009
(Prelude: 26/6/2013)
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 6 in D Major for Solo Cello
Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Gavottes I and II
Gigue
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Former Benedictine Monastery, Bursfelde, Germany, 25–26/6/2013
During the Mikulov Music Festival on October 16, 1999, a unique recording of Bach’s 3rd Cello Suite was made. Its distinctiveness lies in the fact that the artists enriched the piece with a piano accompaniment composed by Robert Schumann in 1852. The magic of the concert was further enhanced by the use of a replica of a replica of a historic hammer piano for the performance of the piano part:
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 3 in C Major for Solo Cello
with piano accompaniment composed by ROBERT SCHUMANN
Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Bourée I and II
Gigue
Jan Škrdlík – cello
Martin Jakubíček – hammer piano
Sala terrena of Mikulov Castle, 16/10/1999
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