A Voice in the Wilderness of the Sumava
Soloist: Markéta Dvoráková, Petr Matuszek, vocalsA Voice in the Wilderness of the Šumava is a meditative composition for an electronic track and two singers (mezzo-soprano and tenor). It is intended as a kind of virtual sacral space, which invites the listeners into its interior. In its structure the composition is partly inspired by the traditional church service with speech and music but it intentionally avoids any particular religious connections.
The sound material of the composition is based on archival recordings made in St. Margaret’s Church in Kašperské Hory in the Šumava in the 1980s. The electroacoustic part uses three kinds of sounds: the sound of the church organ, the sound of the tower bell (which summons people to the Sunday service) and fragments of sermons by F. Novák, a wise priest and philosopher, who was transferred to this region by the Communist regime.
He lived in Kašperské Hory from the 1950s until his death in 1985, having set an example for and influenced a whole generation. The live voices singing traditional Latin texts (Vox Clamantis, Domine exaudi orationem meam, Magnus est Domine) are inspired by the polyphony of the early Middle Ages, but the polarity of the male and female voices is used here as well.