{"id":3849,"date":"2025-04-29T13:14:49","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T13:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/?p=3849"},"modified":"2025-04-29T13:14:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T13:14:51","slug":"review-of-the-album-nachtboek-%c2%b7-quotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/aktuality\/review-of-the-album-nachtboek-%c2%b7-quotations\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of the album NACHTBOEK \u00b7 QUOTATIONS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The album\u00a0NACHTBOEK \u00b7 QUOTATIONS\u00a0by\u00a0VENI ensemble\u00a0under the direction of\u00a0Mari\u00e1n Lejava\u00a0presents two compositions by the ensemble’s artistic director and Slovak composer\u00a0Daniel Matej:\u00a0JMF for DM\u00a0and\u00a0QUOTATIONS \u00b7 ROTATIONS \u00b7 VARIATIONS. The album also includes the composition\u00a0AVONDBOEK \u2013 NACHTBOEK\u00a0by Dutch composer\u00a0Piet-Jan van Rossum, which appears as the second track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VENI 35\u00a0serves as a kind of emblematic subtitle for this CD release. This representative selection modestly marks the ensemble\u2019s anniversary. With VENI ensemble and its affiliated\u00a0VENI ACADEMY, I recall many cherished moments, numerous performers, concerts, and successful recordings. VENI ensemble is a model of a well-managed artistic group, a successful \u201cspiritual child\u201d of\u00a0Daniel Matej.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The selection opens with a piece seemingly rooted in the tradition established by\u00a0John Cage\u00a0and movements such as\u00a0Dada\u00a0and\u00a0Fluxus, as developed in Slovakia around\u00a0Milan Adam\u010diak, of which Daniel Matej was an active member. The title\u00a0JMF for DM\u00a0subtly reveals the initials of the chorale\u00a0Jesu meine Freude\u00a0(which Matej had previously arranged for baroque flute for his daughter Dorka).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The score relies heavily on verbal instructions for performers. The approach to initially pitch-indefinite material\u2014at first nourished by what is for Matej the iconic series Op. 27, later by a diatonic sequence anticipating a final play with a Bach chorale\u2014distantly recalls the Eastern concept of melodic models (maqam,\u00a0raga), charting a kind of \u201cjourney\u201d from chance through Webern to\u00a0J.S. Bach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The compositional poetics of Dutch composer\u00a0Piet-Jan van Rossum, despite generational proximity and a shared teacher (Louis Andriessen), differ radically from those of Daniel Matej in the piano concerto\u00a0AVONDBOEK \u2013 NACHTBOEK. A highly prolific artist active also in literature and film, van Rossum forges in his third piano concerto a peculiar link with the nearly forgotten Russian composer\u00a0Alexei Stanchinsky, who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. (Jorge Luis Borges\u00a0refers to the Kabbalist\u00a0I. Luria, who called such a connection\u00a0Ibbur.) Both composers\u2014Stanchinsky and van Rossum\u2014share a deep interest in mysticism. Unlike Matej, van Rossum reveals nothing about his compositional methods, only thoughts accompanying the creative process. Yet these thoughts, along with the chosen instrumentation and archetypal musical metaphors, encourage the listener to reflect on the piece or construct an extramusical narrative. The composer, through his text, almost \u201cinvites\u201d the listener to create their own \u201cprogram\u201d during the musical flow. Could this be an \u201cupgrade\u201d of neo-romanticism? The music moves from an initial gentle sextal motif, through a pleasant polymodal landscape evoking the emotion of discovering a new territory, with bells and chimes heralding each new sonic village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sound of isolated, sea-soaked wooden sticks foreshadows the piece\u2019s conclusion near the end of its first third. In the second third, we traverse the same terrain, but now less surprised. The \u201ctraditionalist\u201d solo piano climbs the golden ratio\u2019s peak accompanied by a modest ensemble, then rolls back down to the soaked sticks. The pianist transitions from the keyboard to the strings inside the piano.\u00a0Alexei Stanchinsky\u00a0drowned;\u00a0Piet-Jan van Rossum\u00a0narrates his tragic story with a compelling coda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An excellent performance by soloist\u00a0Ivan \u0160iller, supported by the equally outstanding VENI ensemble and conductor\u00a0Mari\u00e1n Lejava, adds a natural “value bonus” to the interpretation of the final composition on the CD. I find\u00a0Daniel Matej\u2019s\u00a0QUOTATIONS \u00b7 ROTATIONS \u00b7 VARIATIONS\u00a0remarkably poetic. As the composer himself states, he was fortunate to have had an unusually long time to work on it, resulting in a richly structured piece. The first part presents an emotional contrast: a coldly pulsating, broadly constructed surface gives way to the \u201cFeldman-esque\u201d tenderness of the second section, woven with a \u201ccontact\u201d game between a Webern-like 12-tone series and diatonic movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second part intensifies contrasts on smaller scales. It announces itself with repeated, insistently tender diatonic piano clusters that serve as a kind of \u201ctheme.\u201d Punctual aleatoric runs alternate with chorale-like textures reminiscent of Sch\u00f6nberg\u2019s \u201cmelody of timbres\u201d or perhaps a kind of virtual keyboard instrument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third part enters attacca, closing the arc with a more global approach to variation in relation to the first part. It\u2019s also beautiful for its humorous handling of references. In the case of\u00a0Egon Bondy, only a \u201cCzechoslovak\u201d listener will fully grasp the subtle humor. A recording of the philosopher’s voice initially sounds like a\u00a0duduk\u00a0or\u00a0shofar\u2014only through repetition does its identity become clear. The song\u00a0H\u0159bitove, h\u0159bitove zahrado zelen\u00e1\u00a0(Cemetery, Cemetery, Green Garden), a legend of the Czechoslovak underground, performed with the “arty” accompaniment of VENI ensemble, seems to ironically reference pop stars’ orchestral concerts. It stands as an immensely powerful caricature of a contemporary trend\u2014a beautiful closure to the CD\u00a0NACHTBOEK \u00b7 QUOTATIONS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juraj Vaj\u00f3<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The album\u00a0NACHTBOEK \u00b7 QUOTATIONS\u00a0by\u00a0VENI ensemble\u00a0under the direction of\u00a0Mari\u00e1n Lejava\u00a0presents two compositions by the ensemble’s artistic director and Slovak composer\u00a0Daniel Matej:\u00a0JMF for DM\u00a0and\u00a0QUOTATIONS \u00b7 ROTATIONS \u00b7 VARIATIONS. The album also includes the composition\u00a0AVONDBOEK \u2013 NACHTBOEK\u00a0by Dutch composer\u00a0Piet-Jan van Rossum, which appears as the second track. VENI 35\u00a0serves as a kind of emblematic subtitle for this CD…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3849"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3851,"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849\/revisions\/3851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iscm-slovakia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}