Uspávanky (Lullabies) (2006) by Jan Vičar

Karen Bentley Pollick and Ivan Sokolov perform Uspávanky (Lullabies) by Jan Vičar at Lord of the Mountain Lutheran Church in Dillon, Colorado on November 6, 2011.


Uspávanky/Lullabies for Violin and Piano (2006) was written for violinist Karen Bentley Pollick and pianist Ivan Sokolov to supplement the program of their March recital at Birmingham-Southern College where I spent fall semester 2005. It is a lyrical parallel to Homage to Fiddlers, which was premiered at BSC. It is similarly based on the
folk music of my native country. The composition is generated from Moravian lullabies, which I have chosen from the repertory of folk singer, Zdena Hovorková. I have expanded the augmented fourth, the governing feature of the Lydian mode, and constructed a bi-tonal work: a mother sings and rocks her baby (simple tune in piano in
Ab major), but the child's dreaming comes from somewhere else (violin in D major).

From the Czech Republic, Jan Vičar (born on 5 May 1949 in Olomouc) is a prolific composer whose compositions have been performed and recorded by leading Czech soloists, orchestras and choirs in the Czech Republic, United States, Canada and Japan. He has served as Editor-in-chief of the leading Czech music journal Hudební rozhledy.
As a Fulbright/CIES Scholar-in-residence, he lectured at eight United States universities in 1998 and 1999. He has published five books including Imprints: Essays on Czech Music and Aesthetics (2005, in English). He is a professor of music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and head of the Musicology Department of Palacky
University in Olomouc. As a visiting professor, he taught composition and music theory at Birmingham-Southern College, Alabama, in the fall of 2005. He has been a member of Birmingham Art Music Alliance since 2006.

www.musicology.upol.cz/profiles/vicarzivot.html
www.obst-music.com/artists/sokolov.htm
www.kbentley.com

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Music

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• Karen Bentley Pollick
• Ivan Sokolov
• Jan Vičar
• Uspávanky