The concert by the Brno Contemporary Orchestra in the courtyard of Brno’s Špilberk Castle on Tuesday, 16 June, offered the audience a chance to hear the castle’s carillon in quite a different guise – as a solo musical instrument. Entitled Vězeňské zvony (Prison Bells), the performance alluded not only to the existence and function of the carillon itself but also to the complex history of the castle. The concert featured harpsichordist Daria Savvateeva, soprano Irena Troupová, and Petr Hladík as carillon player.
Rain disrupted the opening of the concert, bringing the first movement to an unexpected halt. Fortunately, the orchestra, soloists, and conductor returned to the stage to continue the performance.
A l`ile de Goree by Greek composer and architect Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001) is inspired by the slave market on the Senegalese island of Gorée. Written for harpsichord and twelve instruments, the work showcases the composer’s distinctive mathematical-stochastic style. Despite its vivid contrasts, intricate rhythmic textures, and colourful sonorities, the first half of the piece sounded somewhat unsettled, probably due to the challenging weather conditions and a degree of nervousness among the players. Daria Savvateeva acquitted herself well in the role of harpsichordist in such a demanding part. Like the orchestra, she gave an admirable performance. The only slight drawback was that, during the less successful passages, her frustration was occasionally evident in her expression. In a work as challenging as this, most listeners are unlikely to notice the occasional slip or minor imperfection.
The second work on the programme was a commission from composer and documentary filmmaker Eliška Cílková, entitled Archeon. The composer wrote it on commission for the castle carillon with orchestral accompaniment, and spoke about the work as follows: “The title refers to archaea – microscopic organisms that are among the oldest forms of life on Earth. They are capable of surviving in extreme conditions where life appears to be impossible. Their quiet persistence and ancient origin become a metaphor for bells, whose substance and voice endure for centuries.”
The work opens with a solo carillon, its repetitive pealing at first evoking the sound of ordinary church bells. Gradually, more pitches are added to the carillon, allowing the melody to expand and unfold. Beneath the bells, the orchestra creates an inventive and effective textural plane from a variety of sounds – for example, a vibraphone played with a bow, harmonics, air sounds produced by blowing through instruments, and so on. Cílková incorporated the carillon as a solo instrument into her work with sensitivity, earning her a warm round of applause.
Excerpts from the novels Chevengur and The Foundation Pit by Andrei Platonov were set by Russian contemporary composer Dmitri Kourliandski in his work Innermost Man for soprano and orchestra. The work unfolds through a series of recurring sections. The composer breaks the text down into individual syllables, which are then alternated with a vocalising texture suggestive of lamentation, sighs, and cries. The solo part, as performed by Irena Troupová, was initially difficult to hear clearly and was lost in the amplification beneath the orchestra. After a moment, however, the technicians corrected this and brought the soprano’s voice up in the sound mix. The performance of Troupová, as well as that of the orchestra, can be described as accomplished and compelling in its expressiveness.
Despite a rather unpromising weather forecast, the ensemble managed to complete the entire concert, including the closing Schnittke suite drawn from the film music for the celebrated film The End of St Petersburg by Vsevolod Pudovkin. In a style typical of the composer, the concert concluded with a polystylistic work that shifted between grotesque humour and irony, providing welcome relief from the intensity and listening demands of the preceding pieces.
Programme:
Iannis Xenakis – A l`ile de Goree for harpsichord and orchestra (1986)
Eliška Cílková – Archeon – commission for carillon and BCO
Dmitri Kourliandski – Innermost Man for soprano and orchestra, with texts by Andrei Platonov (2002)
Alfred Schnittke – The End of St Petersburg, Concert Suite (1992)
Daria Savvateeva – harpsichord
Irena Troupová – soprano
Petr Hladík – Špilberk carillon
Brno Contemporary Orchestra
Pavel Šnajdr – conductor
Tuesday, 16 June 2026, 20:00, Great Courtyard of Špilberk Castle
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