Leoš Janáček & Kryštof Mařatka

While Janáček’s music is rooted in Moravian folk tradition, Kryštof Mařatka (b. 1971) draws inspiration from ethnic music across several continents.

Mařatka’s composition Pastoral Fables from 2016 is inspired by the world of folk music and its instruments, which the composer sets in dialogue with conventional instruments. Among the folk instruments heard are the bezovák (elder-wood bagpipe), chamois horn, ragman’s whistle, nose flute, shepherd’s trumpet, and bone flute.

His melodrama The Mystery of Mr Rybka (2015) is based on Karel Čapek’s short story The Footprint from the collection Tales from One Pocket. Here, the spoken word and narrative play the central role, while the music, rather than dominating, provides a subtle counterpart to the storytelling.

The composition Altotem, a nocturnal archaic music piece for viola with piano accompaniment, is inspired by key collections of a leading French institution exhibiting treasures of the past and of the very origins of human activity: the National Museum of Archaeology in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris. The composer explains that in his imagination, the “altotem” is a mythical ancient and forgotten musical instrument—some kind of predecessor to the modern viola—which, through its archaic and unusual sound, protects the museum’s collections, watching over them and keeping a guarding hand above them. The name itself reflects this idea, composed of two parts: alto, meaning viola, and totem, a symbol of protection and guardianship.