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| SONATA for Two Pianos, Op.55 (1969-72) |
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| [1] Variations |
LISTEN |
| [2] Fugue |
LISTEN |
| [3] Rondo |
LISTEN
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| SUITE for Piano 4-hand, Op.124 (1985) |
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| [4] Toccata |
LISTEN |
| [5] Nocturne |
LISTEN |
| [6] Finale |
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| FOUR VISIONS for Three Pianos, Op.158 (1999) |
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| [ 7 ] Lento maestoso |
LISTEN |
| [ 8 ] Vivacissimo |
LISTEN |
| [ 9 ] Moderato lugubre |
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| [10] Moderato - Vivacissimo |
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About the Music
RE:
Suite for Piano Four-Hands, Op. 124, wrote Corey Rubin, classical music
DJ for the University of Chicago radio station, 88.5 FM.
WHPK,
"Of today's selections, this one impressed me the most. Svoboda's music is very modern,
and yet I couldn't help but be continually reminded of
Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances
for Two Pianos. This work is extremely interesting and extremely powerful."
Sonata for Two Pianos, Op. 55 belongs to an earlier stage in the composer's life;
it was written in Portland (1970-72). The work was commissioned by the Festival of Contemporary
Arts at Chico State University, where it was premiered the 11th of March, 1973 by Allan Martin
and Tomas Svoboda.
In the first movement is introduced, in a brisk energetic unison, a theme of complex rhythmic
drive and quick chromatic shifts, which cycles through all three movements. After its uplifting
introduction, a peaceful section casts the same theme in a contrasting augmentation and altered
rhythm. While the whole first movement follows the classical sonata form, each segment is clearly
presented in the manner of a variation - a hybrid sonata-variations form with the expected ternary
structure: exposition, development and recapitulation.
The second movement is a slow, majestic fugue. An uncommonly long subject, derived from the sonata
theme, incorporates characteristic melodic leaps in both directions - motivic fragments easily
recognizable in their entrances in various voices. Highly contrapuntal, it displays multiple voices
in unified doubling chords, exploiting the full range of the piano. In a defined binary division the
second part of the fugue engages the subject in its inversion. A closing episode, heard in the first
half, is then extended in the Coda where both pianos, in a canon separated by eight beats, stride
peacefully to the close.
The third and final movement is in a strict rondo form where the dance carries a fragment of the sonata
theme. The refrain's third repetition recalls the sonata theme at full length, however in augmentation
and altered rhythm. The virtuosic Coda accelerates, ultimately reprising fragments of the principal
theme in their original order.
[ 1st Piano: David Svec, 2nd Piano: Tomas Svoboda ]
Suite for Piano 4-hand, Op. 124, was composed for Tomas Svoboda's daughter Lenka when she
was 13 years old. With her father they offered a premiere performance in an informal midday concert
at Portland State University in 1986. The work's three movements (Toccata, Nocturne and Finale) are
separate musical thoughts, their moods are quite contrasting, and were written at different times
between 1984 and 1985.
[ Primo: David Svec, Secundo: Tomas Svoboda ]
Four Visions for Three Pianos, Op. 158 is a recent composition completed in 1999. It was
premiered in its entirety at Reed College in Portland, Oregon on the 12th of March, 1999 with
Jeffrey Payne at 1st Piano, Tomas Svoboda at 2nd Piano and Mika Sunago at 3rd Piano. Unfortunately
a stereo recording does not fully realize the composer's vision for the work, which would ideally
be heard in a full surround context, placing the listener precisely at the center of the ensemble,
arrayed in a perfect triangle. Arranged thusly, the logical relationship between the three pianos
is clearly exposed as the organizing principle to the complex score. The November 19, 1994 performance,
by Maria Choban, Kenn Willson and Tomas Svoboda, at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Beaverton, Oregon,
of the excerpted first movement, treated the audience to this ideal configuration, enclosing the small
assembly in a triangular formation of the three pianos.
The work's serious nature reflects the composer's deep concern for our time. In his own words,
"Being dependent on civilized comfort and luxury, our modern lifestyle harms the environment,
disrupting the natural balance - evolving to an unanswered question, in this, our magical homeland.
Each movement is inspired by a vision of unending expansion of the familiar structures so symbolic
of our irrepressibly burgeoning civilization."
[ 1st Piano: Daniel Wiesner, 2nd Piano: Tomas Svoboda, 3rd Piano: David Svec ]
For More information, sound clips & scores:
Tomas Svoboda's works are heard
on the NPM recordings:
Chamber Works - The Definitive Collection
- beautifully packaged 5 disc set of Svoboda's NPM releases
Dreams of a Dancer - Trio Spektrum
Chamber Works - Vol. 1 - With Clarinet - composer at the piano with
Michael Anderson and members of OFAM
Children's Treasure Box - composer at the piano
Music from Bohemia - Trio Spektrum
Nine Etudes in Fugue Style - composer at the piano
Piano Four Hands - Tomassetti & Cooper
Piano Trios - Members of the Martinu String Qt. w/ the composer at the piano.
(recipient of a 2001 American Record Guide Critics' Choice Award)
Piano Works, Vol. 1 - composer at the piano
String Quartets, No. 1-4 - Martinu Quartet
