Křička & Novak

[semloh]

Thanks to JP for the downloads and related information. Anything by Novak is welcome in my book, and the overture by Křička is a delight. I can't find much about him on the web. The download suggests we are missing out on some beautiful music - does anyone know if there are or have been commercial recordings of these works?

[JP]

Well what little else I know performance-wise regarding this very piece is that it received its last concert rendition at the Prague Music Festival in April 2014 as evidenced here, but no details on the performers - orchestra or conductor??:

< https://test.festival.cz/skladatel/jaroslav-kricka-modry-ptak-predehra-k-maeterlinckove-pohadce-op-16/ >

Continuing on the theme revolving around the musical adaptation of the Bluebird Fairy Tale,  there's a much overlooked masterpiece of post-romanticized film scoring revolving around the 1976 movie released on 20th Century Fox, "The Bluebird" penned by the much underrated and glossed over American screen composer Irwin Kostal in collaboration with his Russian counterpart Andrei Petrov. The writing for strings and woodwind are most astounding indeed and the movie's music abounds with unrestrained flow of abundant lyricism and melody, strongly alluding to the florid style of Russian composers such as Glazunov and Rimsky Korsakov, not surprising since the movie was a joint US-Russian production. In fact, there is an extensively detailed commentary on this topic here:

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=72224&forumID=1&archive=0

That aside, one wonders where these film composers took their cue in terms of creative inspiration.  Is it from Křička's equally obscure orchestral overture of the same title if one were to randomly hazard a "wild card" guess or is this none other than a strikingly coincidental and flukish case of musically convergent stylistic (though not thematic) similarities.   You can hear excerpts of the movie's music here, check out the opening melody (0:11 - 2:29) which goes on extended play interspersed with the dialogue till 4:45 at the commencement of the film:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PAKTxRK2MS8

Furthermore, during the segment when each of the elemental and animal  characters of the movie are magically transformed, there's a distinct musical portrayal motif that elaborates on and accompanies each of these characters' appearance (2:18 - 8.35):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpzos8XrpAc

Also check out the superbly scored and composed dance segment depicting the mystically idyllic domain of bluebirds hidden within the Vaults of Night, which must surely be the musical pinnacle of the movie, from (5.27 - 9.27) here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JZIq33masdY

The captivating dance segment between fire and water (6.17- 7.32) and the rancorous banquet scenes thereafter (7.57 - 9.58) as displayed here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc2rtbTb-p8

Finally, the musical accompaniment to this movie would surely be amiss without the poignantly wistful fairy-tale closing theme from (10.45 -  13.23) here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ENUMtt4AM

If the original performing scores of this movie could be located and the various thematic elements and chronological musical sequences expertly woven, synthesized and integrated seamlessly into a concert suite, that would be truly sensational.

And I can think of no other suitably apt coupling and added bonus to this concertized work than Jaroslav Křička's 13-15 min duration "The Bluebird Overture" (Modry Ptak) orchestral masterpiece.  Also, if the remaining balance of the yet hypothetically proposed CD play time permits the inclusion of yet more works, one could round it up amply with Engelbert Humperdinck's overture and incidental music (already recorded previously on the Virgin Classics label) to complete the musical anthology of shared programmatic contents from Maurice Maeterlinck's play.

https://www.discogs.com/Bamberger-Symphoniker-Karl-Anton-Rickenbacher-Humperdinck-Fairy-Tale-Music-M%C3%A4rchenmusiken/release/10331393

Any takers from the commercial classical music industry? 

[semloh]

Many thanks for that generous reply, JP.