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New music resounds at Rudolfinum

At Prague Premieres, fresh work by European composers

By Frank Kuznik
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 26th, 2008 issue

Prague Premieres

When: March 29-April 6
Where: Rudolfinum
Tickets: 80-100 Kč, available at the venue
For a complete schedule, check www.praguepremieres.eu
In 2004, when the country was celebrating the “Year of Czech Music” as a hedge against the cultural encroachment that many Czechs feared would come with joining the European Union, Václav Riedlbauch noticed something missing. Amid the flood of Dvořák, Smetana, Janáček and Martinů programs, there was barely a ripple of contemporary music.
“We shouldn’t be so afraid of new music,” says Riedlbauch, the managing director of the Czech Philharmonic and a composer himself.
Fortunately, then-Culture Minister Pavel Dostál felt the same way, and provided seed money for Riedlbauch to found Prague Premieres, a festival of new works. In its first two years, the series featured only Czech composers — of whom there are many currently at work, some quite good. Since then the festival has become an annual event showcasing composers from all over Europe, some established international stars, others virtually unknown outside their home country.
This year Prague Premieres offers a total of 15 concerts over nine days, with composers on the bill from the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Belgium. The series include no less than 30 world premieres, some commissioned specifically for the festival. The rest of the pieces were all composed within the past five years, and have never previously been performed in Prague.
“I’m definitely not a diplomat,” Riedlbauch says when asked about the impressive range of composers he’s enlisted. But he is a musical impresario of the first order. There are stellar names in this year’s series — Cristóbal Halffter, Luciano Berio, Henri Dutilleux. The most significant development, though, is the partnership that Riedlbauch has formed with René Bosc, a French conductor and composer who runs the Présences Festival, a contemporary music series in Paris, in conjunction with Radio France.
“’Radio France is very active in commissioning new pieces,” notes Riedlbauch. “We’re getting eight from them — six by French composers, one by a Czech composer living in Paris, and one by a Czech student at HAMU [the Prague music academy].”
Riedlbauch has also been able to round up a “who’s who” of Czech orchestras to play the pieces, including the Pilsen Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic, North Czech Philharmonic Teplice and Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by conductors such as Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Michel Swierczewski, Jakub Hrůša and Petr Vronský. Swiss conductor Kaspar Zehnder will be leading the Prague Philharmonia in a program that includes two pieces by composers currently working in his homeland, one of which, Polaris, Giorgio Tedde finished just two weeks ago.
The key to running a successful contemporary music program, according to Riedlbauch, is an open mind. “Contemporary music is a very rich stream, and we should be open to everything, even pop and rock influences,” he says. Last year, two Czech composers got up and walked out of a performance because they thought the music was “too sweet,” Riedlbauch recalls.
“I have different tastes, too,” he says. “But that’s not important. This is living music, and we want to give the audience a chance to hear what’s new.”
For Riedlbauch, this is all part of a larger, long-term effort to build a local audience for new music, which he plans to work into the Czech Philharmonic schedule on a more consistent basis. He’s already commissioned new works from previous Prague Premieres composers for the next two seasons, and uses the festival to scout promising pieces. “If it’s interesting, we’ll try to work it into the regular season,” he says.
Prague Premieres may not draw the biggest audiences in town, but it does draw the most sophisticated, with many composers and musicians in attendance. This year, about 20 of the composers who have pieces in the festival are expected to attend, which adds a delightful dimension to the concerts. There’s nothing like hearing a new work, with the composer on hand to take a bow afterward.
If the spirit of musical adventure moves you, visit the Rudolfinum over the next week and a half to hear cutting-edge music at its sharpest.
   

Frank Kuznik can be reached at fkuznik@praguepost.com


Other articles in Tempo (26/03/2008):

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