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A summer spin on the classics

Jaroslav Svěcený gathers an eclectic group for hot nights at the Fortress

By Frank Kuznik
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 23rd, 2008 issue

RENÉ JAKL/THE PRAGUE POST
Svěcený will be playing selections from his best-selling Vivaldianno July 30.
Tones of Chodov


When: July 23, 24, 29, 30 and 31
Where: Chodovská tvrz
Tickets: 190-390 Kč, available at the venue
For reservations and complete schedule information, check www.chodovskatvrz.cz (Czech only). To reach Chodov, take the metro C line to Opatov, then the bus connection two stops north to Chodovská tvrz
There’s an unusual summer music program under way at Chodovská tvrz (Chodov Water Fortress), which is a pretty unusual place in itself. A 13th-century fortification that over the centuries has served as a nobleman’s residence, monastery and government office building, the walled roundhouse is now a nifty cultural center with a gallery, restaurant and intimate performance spaces. Situated in an unobtrusive nook in Prague 11, it’s like a UFO that landed amid a forest of dreary paneláks to establish an arts outpost.
For the past four years, Czech violin star Jaroslav Svěcený has brightened summer nights at Chodov with a series of chamber music concerts featuring himself and his friends, a large group that includes a rich assortment of outstanding Czech musicians. Typically, the program doesn’t stray far from light classical pieces, with an occasional nod to folk or pop provided by the genre-defying band Jablkoň.
This year the program started with a tribute to Vivaldi, minus The Four Seasons. Instead, Svěcený unearthed some of Vivaldi’s lesser-known concertos, including one for orchestra and four violins. But from that point on, the schedule is taking off in wildly divergent directions.
“Prague is a very conservative place for classical music,” Svěcený says. “But summer is a good time for experiments, to try something new. So all the concerts this year include classical music, but combined with something different every night.”
On Wednesday this week (July 23), Svěcený teams up with pianist Pavel Větrovec (who runs Karel Gott’s orchestra) for a night of American jazz and pop. The program includes selections from Bernstein’s score for West Side Story, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (arranged by Jascha Heifetz), John Williams’ soundtrack for Schindler’s List and Chick Corea’s Children’s Songs, arranged for piano and violin. The following night, Svěcený brings in Czech pop pianist Richard Pachmann and vocalist and TV personality Dita Hořinková for a very unconventional pairing: The first half will reprise some of the pieces the trio recorded for their CD Colours; the second half features Martinů’s Etudes Faciles, with Hořinková’s voice substituting for one of the violins.
The concert Tuesday next week (July 29) features another vocalist, mezzosoprano Martina Kociánová, fronting Svěcený and a wind ensemble, Trio Amadeus, which includes noted clarinet player Karel Dohnal. They will be performing a centuries-spanning program of Mozart, Hummel, Rossini, Kreisler and Piazzola. The series concludes Thursday (July 31) with Jablkoň, who with just a little help from Svěcený will play an all-new program of their distinctive blend of folk, pop and classical music.
In between (July 30) is the centerpiece of the festival, a performance of selections from Vivaldianno, the new disc masterminded by Svěcený and Michal Dvořák, a composer, keyboard player and founder of the Czech rock group Lucie. Vivaldianno has been Bonton’s best-selling disc this month, its rock-oriented updating of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons striking a chord that cuts across generations. Technically, it’s a remarkable work, made over three years using 65 musicians who played instruments ranging from conventional strings to a sitar and didgeridoo. There’s even a Tuvan throat singer on one of the cuts.
“It took us six months in the studio just to get the mix right,” Svěcený says. “The idea was to celebrate Vivaldi in different styles. It turned out to be one of the biggest projects of my life.”
For the Chodov concert, Svěcený and Dvořák will be joined by guitarist Radim Hladík and a 15-piece classical ensemble. Their performance fits neatly with Svěcený’s larger goals and hopes for the project.
“For me, this is about popularizing classical music,” he says. “The same audience comes to all the classical concerts, almost all older people. We need to do something to attract young people.”
There was no problem attracting young people to Klášterec Castle in northwest Bohemia earlier this month, where Svěcený gave master classes and a concert series that included a performance of selections from Vivaldianno. “Six hundred people came to the concert,” Svěcený says. “We had the CD for sale afterward. Usually you sell 10 or 15 at something like that — we sold 200.”
Svěcený is planning a large-ensemble Vivaldianno tour for the spring. But you can get a preview now, at one of the coziest outdoor venues in the city. Or enjoy any of his lively explorations this month of the uncharted territory where pop meets the classics.

Frank Kuznik can be reached at fkuznik@praguepost.com


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