Czech Chamber Music Society • Wihan Quartet

American composer and guitarist Bryce Dessner (*1976) has had four opportunities this season to present himself to the public as the composer-in-residence of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Dessner, who now lives between Paris and the Basque Country, got the inspiration for Circles while composing the music for the film The Two Popes (2019), starring Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI and Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio – the future Pope Francis who hails from Argentina. Dessner, who was also the film’s music producer, used traditional melodies from the South American continent in his soundtrack, in which he also employed the bandoneon, an instrument popularized by Ástor Piazzolla. In the film, the bandoneon was played by Julien Labro, a French virtuoso on this instrument. Dessner was completely blown away by his artistry, and so in 2021 he created Circles for Julien Labro and the Takács Quartet, in which the bandoneon can alternatively be replaced by an accordion. Dessner says that this piece is an expression of the creative process that moves forward but also returns and searches again before all the voices come together in a common rhythm and polyphony. “This theme of the individual versus the collective voice is something I have been exploring a lot in my work,” says the composer. He questions whether the voice of an individual carries more weight than the voice of a group, which is why he does not give too many detailed instructions in his score in order to encourage the performers to express themselves and find their own place in the whole; he also leaves room for the accordionist to improvise. In keeping with its title, the composition is structured in circles, just as life is full of new beginnings and returns.

In his music, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) brought about a significant stylistic change in several fields, including the composition of symphony, piano sonata, and string quartet, which grew in importance and became a personal and entirely unique expression of their composer. Beethoven’s first six quartets, Op. 18, still follow the models of Joseph Haydn and W. A. Mozart, while the three quartets of Op. 59, called Razumovsky Quartets, which were written between spring and autumn 1808, represent a creative leap that also imposed increasing technical demands on performers and on the receptiveness of the audience. The first quartet (in F major), represents a new world merely by its vastness; in the second one (in E minor), drama and solemnity are juxtaposed with expressions of joy. In the third quartet (in C major), Beethoven employed elements that he developed in his later works of this kind. Significant credit must also be given to the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh (1776–1830) and the quartet of string players which he established in 1804. Schuppanzigh and his ensemble first performed in private homes, later in the small hall of the “Zum Römischen Kaiser” Hotel in subscription series. In 1808, the Russian ambassador to Vienna, Count Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky (after 1815, Prince), engaged Schuppanzigh Quartet as his household string quartet in his new Viennese palace on Landstraße. This allowed Beethoven to compose for a permanent professional ensemble and specific musicians whose qualities he knew, although in the early years the players changed several times. In 1804, Beethoven had already arranged the first of the quartets from his future Opus 59, but because of his work on the opera Leonore (Fidelio) did not return to the Razumovsky Quartets until two years later, completing them in November 1806. Although it is not documented whether they were commissioned by Count Razumovsky, the use of Russian melodies in the first two quartets would suggest so. At the beginning of 1807, the set of three quartets was performed for the first time, probably in the Lobkowitz Palace, because the Razumovsky Palace had not yet been completed. “Three new, very long and difficult violin quartets by Beethoven, dedicated to the Russian ambassador Count Razumovsky, also attract the attention of all connoisseurs. They are deep in conception and marvelously worked out, but not universally comprehensible, with the possible exception of the third one, in C major, which by virtue of its individuality, melody, and harmonic power must win over every educated friend of music.”

Accordionist, bandoneonist and music teacher Jakub Jedlinský graduated from the Pardubice Conservatory, the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and a master class at the Syddansk Musikkonservatorium – Danish National Academy of Music in Esbjerg (Jytte von Rüden). He has won numerous awards at domestic and international competitions, participated in international courses and seminars led by leading figures in his field and already during his studies he collaborated with Czech Radio.

As a performer, he works mainly in chamber music, performing at international music festivals in the Czech Republic and many European countries. He has had the opportunity to perform on important world stages such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, The Royal Northern College of Music Manchester or Rudolfinum in Prague on several occasions. In 2011 he founded the Escualo Quintet, which brings the phenomenon of Argentine tango, and especially the music of Ástor Piazzolla. In this ensemble he works as a bandoneonist and dramaturge. Escualo Quintet has achieved many successes on domestic and international stages (International Music Festival Český Krumlov, International Music Festival Lípa musica, International Music Festival Peter Dvorský, Czech Philharmonic subscription, Prague Philharmonia and many others).

Since 2019, he has been working in a multi-genre duo with violinist Pavel Fischer, with whom he has played hundreds of concerts in the Czech Republic and abroad (the Netherlands, England, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Iraq and others). Successful concert activities have resulted in collaboration with other great artists or orchestras, such as singer Iva Bittová, actress Anna Polívková, composer and pianist Zdenek Merta, the Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic and the South Bohemian Philharmonic and others. 

He teaches accordion at the Pardubice Conservatory and is now a member of the MenART scholarship academy. He also works as a director, dramaturg and lecturer of the festival and interpretation courses Accordion Summer Litomyšl.