Klusák J. Inventions Nos.1-10, Perished Happiness. Symphonic Poem for Orchestra (2CD)

Jan Klusák (*1934)

CD 1

1. Invention No.1 for Chamber Orchestra (1961) 8:33

2. Invention No.2 for Chamber Orchestra (1962) 7:52

3. Invention No.3 for String Instruments (1962) 5:03

4. Invention No.4 (Lair) for Orchestra (1964) 5:22

5. Invention No.5 (A Game of Chess) for Wind Quintet (1965) 3:41

6. Invention No.6 for Nonett (1969) 8:16

CD 2

7. Invention No.7 for Orchestra (1973) 15:22

8. Invention No.8 (Quadratura circuli) for Small Orchestra (1973)* 13:12

9. In the Autumn. Invention No.9 for Contralto, Male Choir and Orchestra (1992-2012) 11:47

10. Tetragrammaton sive Nomina Eius. Invention No.10 for Orchestra (1992) 15:53

BONUS

11. Perished Happiness. Symphonic Poem for Orchestra, the 3rd part of the triptych Dreams (2006-2011) 10:45

Chamber Harmonia Orchestra / Libor Pešek conductor

Agon / Petr Kofroň conductor

Czech Nonet

Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra / Petr Vronský conductor

PKF - Prague Philharmonia / Tomáš Hanus conductor

Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ondrej Lenárd conductor

Recording venues / years: Rudolfinum, Prague 1964 (1,3), 2013 (Perished Happiness), National Technical Museum, Prague 1993 (2), Olomouc 1964 (4), Smečky Studio, Prague (5), Czech Radio, Prague 1970 (6), 2014 (9), 2010 (10), Dukla Studio, Brno 1986 (7), Lichtenstein Palace, Prague, 1995 (8)

At home, the name of Jan Klusák (as an actor and composer) is most frequently connected with cult Czech films and the Jára Cimrman Theatre. Yet he is also the creator of remarkable and singular music. A pupil of Jaroslav Řídký and Pavel Bořkovec, he was among the first Czechs - the Communist regime's resistance notwithstanding - to embrace the techniques of the Second Viennese School, New Music, dodecaphony and serialism. The presented set of "Inventions" shows the ground Klusák has covered over the more than half a century since the first of them was completed (1961). "I denominated my form using the term known from J.S.Bach - invention, always the term for the form with a single musical idea... Only considerably later did I notice that since my first compositional attempts I have sought a musical form with a single theme, hence my strong interest in the fugue. Invention granted me the experience of feeling happy with the origination of a superpersonal order. Roman Berger said the following unforgettable words about the Seventh Invention '...clouds racking on the sky...' I would consider myself fortunate indeed if clouds racking on the sky were left after me in the world."

Jan Klusák's Inventions - half a century of spirited seeking of formal perfection.

(Supraphon 2014)