There has been a discussion of Zelenka's muic on a different thread, and I mentioned that I have been conversant with his Music for some time, as Heinz Holliger and Camerata Bern championed him some time ago and then cpo picked up the cause.
Z's music is most notable for the way in which it defies conventions. Instead of building to a climax he will modulate, go off on different keys and tangents, occassionally winding up all the loose threads at the end, sometimes not, but always providing a lot of thrills along the way. The demands that he makes on the players, particularly the horns but really all the wind players, are fearsome. Z was a double bass player, and I wonder if he would pluck away while laughing at the torments that he was inflicting upon his windier colleagues.
Z's music was well known to J.S. Bach, and I was just reflecting on some stylistic similarities between Zelenka and C.P.E. Bach, who at least from a compositional standpoint was the most interesting scion of J.S. C.P.E. has put me off in the past with the extreme vertiginity in his work, sometimes from phrase to phrase. I like C.P.E. best when he seems to have composed on decaf, but I can't helpe but wonder if he was influenced by the music of Zelenka
Z's music is most notable for the way in which it defies conventions. Instead of building to a climax he will modulate, go off on different keys and tangents, occassionally winding up all the loose threads at the end, sometimes not, but always providing a lot of thrills along the way. The demands that he makes on the players, particularly the horns but really all the wind players, are fearsome. Z was a double bass player, and I wonder if he would pluck away while laughing at the torments that he was inflicting upon his windier colleagues.
Z's music was well known to J.S. Bach, and I was just reflecting on some stylistic similarities between Zelenka and C.P.E. Bach, who at least from a compositional standpoint was the most interesting scion of J.S. C.P.E. has put me off in the past with the extreme vertiginity in his work, sometimes from phrase to phrase. I like C.P.E. best when he seems to have composed on decaf, but I can't helpe but wonder if he was influenced by the music of Zelenka