Can you introduce yourself, and talk about your current musical role and responsibilities?
I studied organ at the Conservatory in Pardubice and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague; in 2002 I received a scholarship and studied also in Musik Academy in Hamburg. Since 2006, I have been a solo organist and head of keyboard instruments at the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
As a soloist, I have appeared with other important orchestras and ensembles. As a soloist in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, I performed with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra. In December 2024, I am going to perform with the Czech Philharmonic and conductor Semyon Bychkov in the US at Carnegie Hall. I also give solo organ recitals all over Europe.
For those who haven’t come across it before, can you give a brief introduction to Leoš Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass?
Although the text of the Glagolitic Mass is liturgical, this work was not composed by an “orthodox believer”. The piece is more about faith in eternal life itself, without needing to be a member of any church or religion. On the other hand, Janáček was in love with Kamila Stösslova at that moment, and this was to be their secret “wedding mass”.
Thanks to the beautiful Old Church Slavonic language used in the Mass, we can understand the piece also as a celebration of pan-Slavic idea, which Janáček often identified with.
The organ solo Janáček composed many years before, and after finishing the Glagolitic Mass he included this solo as a 7th movement.
What impression did the work make on you when you first heard it?
The first time I heard the Glagolitic Mass was in an old recording from 1963, with the Czech Philharmonic conducted by Karel Ančerl. But I studied the organ solo much earlier. I was told that this solo is the most important and difficult part of the literature for organ and orchestra, so I decided to learn it in the very first year of my academic studies – just in case. To be prepared!
I also wanted to add it to my repertoire because it is very impressive and spectacular piece for any solo organ recital. Years later, when I listened to the recording of the whole piece, I totally fell in love with it.
What is it like to perform? The organ is used throughout, but also has a spectacular solo near the end of the piece.
There is a small solo in the 4th movement and then huge solo – the whole 7th movement.
None of it is easy, especially psychologically. In both cases, the whole orchestra stops playing completely, and the organ comes out of nowhere to introduce new music – completely alone. Three movements before the first “small” solo, the organ almost doesn’t play, so the performer is getting cold hands. And it is the same as before the huge solo in the 7th movement. The previous part, Agnus Dei, ends pianissimo and very slowly – and suddenly, the organ has to start very quickly, in fortissimo, and attack the audience with new music. It is a 4 or 5-minute solo part, without any conducting, so I understand it like I am taking over the baton from the conductor, and pushing the music forward. It is a fantastic feeling but also a huge responsibility!
Is there a recording or a memory of a performance that is particularly special?
In 2006, I performed Glagolitic Mass with the Prague Symphony Orchestra in the Merseburger orgeltage festival in Germany, under the baton of Rastislav Štúr. The concert was situated in a huge cathedral, and it was really scary! I was in the organ gallery, and the choir, orchestra and conductor were about 80 metres from me in front of the altar! And what’s more, there was no mirror or screen for the organist to have contact with the conductor! I just tried to analyse how long the acoustic delay was from the organ to the orchestra and back, and followed my intuition. I don’t know how we pulled it off, but we did, and that was my first big success with this piece. After this performance, I was invited to give a solo organ recital in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.
Do you have a favourite passage in the work?
I love each and every one of the parts of this extraordinary piece – even if I don’t play in them, I just listen to the orchestra or the incredible choral writing! But where I always feel a real ecstasy is at the final Intrada. I feel like – yes, all together, we’ve built a huge cathedral of sounds, melodies, and harmonies, my big “stone”, the 7th movement, is successfully behind me, and now we all are finally approaching heaven! Those harmonies and passages in the brass section are incredible – you can see the gateway to heaven widely open and illuminated!
For those new to Janáček’s music, can you talk in general about what makes it unusual and distinctive?
Janáček’s music is like no-one else’s. It is immediately recognisable after only 2 bars, of any of his compositions. I think the most proper word for his musical language is furious. Wild and furious. In one moment, he scratches your soul with dramatic chords and harmonies, and in the next moment, with a sad melody he lets you fall to the bottom of your own heart and lets you bleed there... He broke every rule in orchestration. But everything that he did was done was on purpose, and it works.
Key to all the emotions collected in his music was folk music. He went to villages, listened to old people singing folk songs, made notes everywhere (even on his shirt sleeves), and used them in his compositions. His music is based and built on Moravian folk songs, their tunes and melodies, and also on the rhythm and intonation of the Moravian language. That's why is Janáček’s music so unique.
Why should one come to hear a performance of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass?
One should come and hear Glagolitic Mass because of all I said above – but also because of the opportunity to listen to it performed by the Czech Philharmonic! There is some magic in the speech of this orchestra, especially in performing the Czech music. Maybe it is the sound, colour, and tradition stemming from the time of Antonín Dvořák, passing from one generation of musicians to the next... I don’t know, I can’t describe it; I just feel it every time I perform with this superb orchestra. And every time I play with them, I feel blessed, honoured and grateful.
The Czech Philharmonic with the Prague Philharmonic Choir perform Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass at the BBC Proms on 28th August and at Carnegie Hall on 5th December.
This article was sponsored by the Year of Czech Music.
