Czech Philharmonic: Ondrej Kukal: Symphony No. 1, "with Glockenspiel"; Jiri Teml - Labyrinth of Memory - COMPACT DISCS

Czech Philharmonic: Ondrej Kukal: Symphony No. 1, "with Glockenspiel"; Jiri Teml - Labyrinth of Memory - COMPACT DISCS

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Preorder Release Date: 10/02/2026
Title:

Ondrej Kukal: Symphony No. 1, "with Glockenspiel"; Jiri Teml - Labyrinth of Memory

Artist:

Czech Philharmonic

Label:

Animal Music

Product Type:

COMPACT DISCS

UPC:

8594211850773

Genre:

Classical Artists

Release Date:

2026-10-02

Number of Discs:

1

The Animal Music label releases two orchestral works by contemporary Czech composers, Ondrej Kukal (1964) and Jiri Teml (1935). The two compositions have much in common. Not just their autobiographical inspiration and the theme of memory, but each represents a significant milestone in it's composer's career and life. While in Ondrej Kukal's case, the motif of remembrancehas a symbolic value, providing a reference to the illness that caused the author to lose his memory in 2003, in Jiri Teml's work, remembering is the main theme, as he uses musical images to recount memories of his life. Ondrej Kukal's Symphony No. 1, 'With Glockenspiel', holds symbolic significance for the composer. Kukal is a triple threat as conductor, composer and violinist. He wrote the composition in 1999, at the height of his career, during his tenure with the South Czech Philharmonic in Ceske Budejovice. From 1993, he also conducted the Czech Chamber Orchestra and between 1996 and 2003 served as concertmaster of the Prague Chamber Orchestra, performing at venues such as New York's Lincoln Centre, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and Vienna's Musikverein. In 2003, shortly before he was to conduct the opening concert of the Prague Spring festival, he suddenly fell ill with viral meningoencephalitis, suffering from amnesia as a result. Luckily, he retained his musical memory and believes that it was what saved him in the end. Although Symphony No. 1 originated in the phase before his illness, Kukal speculates in an interview with Lubos Stehlik about it foreshadowing what was to come later: 'It occurs to me that I brought that fall upon myself with the symphony. I set it to music there, as if I had predicted the fall. Sometimes I can sense things in advance, and I translate this sense into music.' Musicologist Vlasta Reittererova describes the work thus: 'The music flows, rising and falling until it reaches a final outburst in a catastrophe, followed by a release of tension as it moves towards catharsis, like an ancient tragedy, reminding us of a funeral march when a solitarychime and a muffled strike of the tympani sound amidst the fading strings.' The symphony was premiered on 12 April 2000 in Ceske Budejovice. In 2005, it was awarded the annual prize of the Copyright Protection Association for Music Rights. The recording on this album is of a performance by the Czech Philharmonic in 2024, conducted by Jakub Hrusa. Jiri Teml's Labyrinth of Memory was commissioned by the Czech Philharmonic in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the premiere had to be postponed and did not take place until 5 February 2025 when the Czech Philharmonic performed it under the baton of Tomas Netopil to mark the composer's 90th birthday. Jiri Teml began his musical journey as an autodidact, but his career has been studded by encounters with people who inspired him and helped him on the way. He studied composition privately with Jiri Jarocha and Bohumil Dusek. For many years, he worked as music programmer at the regional station of Czech Radio in Pilsen and later on at the Prague studios and collaborated with children's choirs and folk ensembles. Through his work as music programmer he was in close contact with new compositional trends and techniques of expression, drawing on these in his own work. Since the 1960s he has been dedicating himself to the composition of classical music, drawing on the legacy of early-twentieth-century luminaries, such as Stravinsky, Prokofiev or Janacek, but also on the works of musicians from more recent generations, including Miloslav Kabelac and Gyorgy Ligeti. Jiri Temlis the author of concertos for diverse instruments, including violin, French horn, oboe, organ and harpsichord, and he has written many works for various chamber ensembles, as well as cantatas and several children's operas. A number of his compositions, including Labyrinth of Memory, are inspired by literature and other extra-musical impulses. Musical ideas surface mysteriously and take unexpected shapes, like memories. A key role is played by the percussions section, including the glockenspiel and vibraphone, and the timbre of orchestral is completed with the sound of the piano and celesta. The rhythmically pronounced parts are counterbalanced by calmer passages.

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