ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF CZECH ENSEMBLE BAROQUE ROMAN VÁLEK

Czech Ensemble Baroque is one of the leading European specialists in authentic performance of music of bygone stylistic eras, Baroque and Classicism in particular. Founded 25 years ago by the conductor Roman Válek, it consists of an orchestra, a choir and soloists, professional musicians hailing from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Germany. They have collaborated with Supraphon for many years, having made numerous acclaimed recordings. The Czech Ensemble Baroque discography has now been extended by a new František Ignác Antonín Tůma album, titled Vesperae. This year, we commemorate the 320th anniversary of the composer’s birth and the 250th anniversary of his death. Tůma is thus one of the great musical figures whose legacy we are celebrating within the current Year of Czech Music. We talked to Roman Válek, the conductor and artistic director of Czech Ensemble Baroque, a few hours before the album’s release.

Czech Ensemble Baroque have made another album featuring František Ignác Antonín Tůma‘s music. Can you give a brief account of the recording?

This is our fourth Tůma album. We have made three, Requiem, Te Deum and Vesperae, for Supraphon, and one, Motets, with the countertenor Andreas Scholl, for France’s Aparte label. The experience with working on the projects has confirmed my opinion that Tůma was an extraordinary composer within the global context. He arrived at a truly singular style, blending elements of Late Baroque and Classicism, while also embracing much earlier, 17th-century, music. When adding the specific milieu of Vienna’s imperial court, churches and monasteries, we hear wonderful, original music, which completes the portfolio of the best Baroque Europe had to offer.

What should the attentive listener expect? 

Listeners can let themselves be borne on the waves of Tůma’s diverse and, actually, entertaining style. His music does not feature tiringly long polyphony but elegantly mixes all the compositional elements of the time. What is more, owing in part to the top-notch musicians Tůma had available at the court of Empress Christine in Vienna, his accompanying lines and basso continuo are really luscious, creative and immensely impressive.

Almost all the works featured on the album are presented in modern-day premiere. What was the most challenging aspect of the recording?

There were several phases to the rather lengthy process. The first of them entailed selecting the right works from among the composer’s hundreds of superlative pieces. We then had to collect the manuscripts at libraries in the Czech Republic or elsewhere in Europe, and, if need be, compare them with other sources. Afterwards, the scores were transcribed into contemporary notation. There were also budget-related issues. And deciding upon the line-up in which to perform the pieces, since the catalogue data, the title pages or the individual parts may not match the period practice options. And, finally, there are the rehearsals, concerts and recording itself. Everything must be covered by a befitting budget.

When recording music by composers of older epochs, there arise questions pertaining to such aspects of performance as tempo, agogics and the like, as well as the make-up of the ensemble and its spatial distribution. You have intensely devoted to such matters. What conclusions have you arrived at? 

If in a catalogue or on the title page of a manuscript we find, for instance, the instruction “Missa per 2 violini violone e organo con 2 clarini e 4 voci”, it certainly does not refer to a composition for ten musicians. There were often three or four clarinos, with a trumpet and timpani automatically constituting a consort, while a violone was the basis of the bass section, which could include, for example, a cello, bassoon or viola da gamba, and the organ was enriched by lute instruments, possibly harps and a harpsichord. An independent, and crucial, group is the tutti, or, if you will, ripieno, instruments, which in Tůma’s case contains two trombones, a cornett and a bassoon. The “4 voci” encompasses four soloists and at least four ripienists. The soli and ripieni were two independent groups of musicians who always used a given sacral space. Yet this practical experience does not only relate to Tůma’s, let alone unknown, music. The next generations of early music performers should generally revise the renditions and recordings of renowned pieces, including those by Mozart and Haydn. I firmly believe they will arrive at innovations and surprising creative conclusions.