Krček, Martinů, Janáček

In my Seventh Symphony, not being burdened with any concrete content, I wanted to create the effect of spontaneous music making. And because I love the marimba, I wrote a concertante part for it in the third and fourth movements. The symphony is in the traditional four movements. The first movement begins like classical symphonies with an Adagio followed by an exuberant Allegro, then at the end the Adagio returns briefly. The second movement can simply be said to be meditative and calm; brass and percussion are omitted deliberately. The third movement, where the marimba is first heard, is like a scherzo with short, free insertions of solo marimba. The whole orchestra gets a chance here to show some virtuosity. Then after a slow introduction, the fourth movement is in a fast triple metre, and it builds up until a full sonority is reached. After that there is a short reminiscence of the solo marimba followed by a slow conclusion. I would like my music to make a positive impression and to lend beauty to the moment when it is heard, and I want the listener to come away with that impression even after the music is over. - Jaroslav Krček 

The compositions of Jaroslav Krček, Bohuslav Martinů, and Leoš Janáček have something in common. Above all, their music is communicative in the best sense. Each of them is able to establish contact with the listener in just a few bars and to maintain that contact long after the last notes die away. The deserved success of all three is often aided by their essential grounding in the wonderful sources of folk tradition, and that enables them to communicate credibly and in an engaging manner, but with simplicity. To me personally, all three composers are also connected by the fact that I already liked their music as a child. - Jakub Hrůša