Description
Comes with a 20-page booklet. Texts by Petr Bakla and Marek Pokorný, in English and Czech.
The album features two pieces for solo piano that occupy – each in a different way – a central position in Petr Bakla´s output, as the composer explains in the elaborated liner notes.
While “Usableness” arises from a very specific ordering of the basic material of twelve tones, that minuscule and important segment of the universe of sounds, that “piano ruler”, in “Portfolio”, the same material is presented literally straightforwardly, arranged as it stands – straight lines in one direction.
Miroslav Beinhauer, piano
World premiere studio recordings.
Recorded at the Orlí Street Theatre Recording Studio, Brno, in September and December 2020
Czech composer Petr Bakla dedicates himself to composing notated music for acoustic instruments. In his compositions, he often employs basic pitch material, typically chromatic and whole-tone scales. He is interested in constructing situations and structural contexts in which these frugal musical elements can acquire a unique expressiveness and energy. A frequent feature of Bakla’s work is a simultaneous course of two musical/sound layers which, although usually markedly differing in dynamics to allow for a sense of “figure and background”, are not mutually subordinating – they are of equal importance, their “friction” creating specific tension and ambiguity. Petr Bakla composes orchestral, chamber and solo pieces.
As pianist, Miroslav Beinhauer focuses on contemporary music. Besides, he is probably the only person in the world to master Alois Hába´s sixth-tone harmonium, for which instrument he encourages new repertoire.