KATEŘINA ENGLICHOVÁ AND VILÉM VEVERKA

Two internationally acclaimed classical music performers – harpist Kateřina Englichová and oboist Vilém Veverka – have recorded their very first joint album, reflecting their having appeared at concerts together for almost 12 years. The CD features music by France’s Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and the Czech composer Luboš Sluka, who has created his work directly for Englichová and Veverka.
The album’s title, Impressions, echoes the two artists’ resolve to render and ascertain the state of mind of the composers at the time when they were writing their pieces. The result is a sonically specific, extremely lucid, tender even, music. “The uncommon combination of the oboe and the harp affords a limitless scale of colours. The music is really hyper-virtuoso,” Vilém Veverka says.
The album Impressions is centred around Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin, which reflects the composer’s re­miniscences of his friends killed during World War I. Kateřina Englichová points out: “I love the original piano version, as well as the later orchestral one, of Maurice Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin. The harp sounds very graceful in it, while the oboe even plays the key role. But I have to admit that I had no inkling of what was ahead of me. When I decide to perform piano pieces, I mostly arrange the harp part myself, which I intended to do in this case too. I started with an open mind, yet a month later I realised that the arrangement had to be undertaken by a specialist. I did not want to spoil Ravel, just as I did not want to do harm to myself (laughs). At that moment, I had the idea of turning to the composer Otomar Kvěch, who had previously made a fantastic arrangement of Isaac Albéniz’s Serenata española for me and the pianist Martin Kasík. Mr. Kvěch duly accepted our offer, and he evidently enjoyed the work. Once in a while, he sent me an email, informing me of his progress: ‘Dear Kateřina, I am just probing into the third movement. Ravel was a true genius!’”
The tiny gems from Ravel’s and Debussy’s oeuvre are performed on Impressions in sensitively thought-through arrangements, which accord new colour to the works. Luboš Sluka’s Primavera, composed for the Englichová & Veverka duo, is presented in its premiere recording.
Vilém Veverka adds: “Luboš Sluka has written Primavera directly for us. It is an unpretentious piece of music; it is pleasing, yet not cheap. Entirely in line with the ‘Sluka’ nature, in the best sense of the word. We first performed the work in 2015, in the magical milieu of a small church in the Orlice Mountains. Mr. Sluka, who has a cottage nearby, was present too. I can recall every single detail of that day, so exceptional an experience it was.”

For further details please visit:
www.englichova.cz
www.vilemveverka.cz