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Karel Reiner (1910-1979) was a respected composer of ultra modern
music in prewar Czechoslovakia, initially studying law and simultaneously
composition with Alois Haba. His constructivist compositions, stemming from
mathematical formulations, were performed througout Europe prior to World War II.
Unable to escape when his country was invaded by the Nazis, he was an internee
at Terezin, Dachau, and Auschwitz, and at the end of the war he was sent
on one of the infamous death marches. After his liberation, Reiner's compositions
took a more traditional turn, and by the mid 1950s he resumed his
modern prewar compositional style. In the last decade of his life he arrived
at a synthesis of his compostional methods he had used up to that time.
Reiner was subsequently decorated by the Czechoslovakian government for his
artistic accomplishments and was a central figure in the Czech
contemporary music scene. His catalogue of works is long and impressive including
operas, symphonic works, concerti, chamber music, and songs. His two
compositions for saxophones include the Due Skladby (Two Pieces) (1967) for alto
saxophone and piano, and Hovory (Talks).
Reiner composed Hovory after attending a Raschèr Saxophone Quartet
concert given for the composers guild in Prague. On the occasion of that
concert, Linda Bangs, the quartet's baritone saxophonist at the time, asked the
composer for a piece for solo baritone saxophone. Hovory is the result
of that meeting. He chose the flute as the other instrument for the duo
because he thought the two instruments would compliment each other. In
a letter to Ms. Bangs, the composer wrote that she should "use her musical
fantasy in determining which passages should be played with a straight
tone and which with a more expressive vibrato, always complimenting the flute
part, which is sometimes very pointed, as in the beginning, or sometimes
very gentle, as with the tremolo passages. Do not fear either the
swinging dance-like rhythms or the romantic melodic expression. Your part
sounds to me as though it lies somewhere between the bass clarinet and the
bassoon, sometimes sounding more like the one and sometimes more like the other,
but always with a baritone flavor."
The first performance of Hovory took place at the Crane School of
Music, the State University of New York at Potsdam, on October 4, 1979. It has
recently been recorded by Ms. Bangs on the Coronet CD label.
Lee Patrick
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