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Gratias

Ilja Hurník composer

Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal conductor

Release Date: May 28, 2021
Catalog #: NV6350
Format: Digital & Physical
20th Century
Liturgical
Vocal Music
Choir

The Jitro Czech Girls Choir and conductor Jiří Skopal return with GRATIAS on Navona Records. The commemorative album pays homage to Czech composer Ilja Hurník, whose playful compositions perfectly match the joyful imagination of youth without sacrificing a sliver of musical integrity. Also a prolific author, Hurnik infuses his compositions with narrative texts that give the music a storybook quality.

The Jitro Czech Girls Choir presents this album as a memoriam for Hurnik, who spent decades popularizing classical music and teaching his concise, efficient style to children. His long history with the choir gave him an intimate look into its performance, allowing a symbiosis between composer and performer where each could flourish.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Variations on a Mouse Theme: Theme Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 0:26
02 Variations on a Mouse Theme: Var. 1, Like Bach Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:15
03 Variations on a Mouse Theme: Var. 2, Like Haydn Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 0:41
04 Variations on a Mouse Theme: Var. 3, As In Romanticism Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 2:10
05 Variations on a Mouse Theme: Var. 4, Like Today Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:17
06 June Night: I. Nightingale Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 2:28
07 June Night: II. Little Lights Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:38
08 June Night: III. Stock Owl Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 0:40
09 June Night: IV. Moon In the Pond Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 2:02
10 June Night: V. Head Hurts Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:33
11 June Night: VI. Little John Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 0:51
12 June Night: VII. King David Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 2:16
13 Children's Tercetta (Arr. for 3 Voices & Piano): I. Icicles Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 0:56
14 Children's Tercetta (Arr. for 3 Voices & Piano): II. Sparrow and Starling Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 0:49
15 Children's Tercetta (Arr. for 3 Voices & Piano): III. Swallowtail Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:42
16 Children's Tercetta (Arr. for 3 Voices & Piano): IV. Foal Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 0:53
17 Children's Tercetta (Arr. for 3 Voices & Piano): V. Butterfly Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:43
18 Children's Tercetta (Arr. for 3 Voices & Piano): VI. In the Rain Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:29
19 Children's Tercetta (Arr. for 3 Voices & Piano): VII. Owl Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:24
20 Children's Tercetta (Arr. for 3 Voices & Piano): VIII. Little Spider Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:48
21 Water, Sweetwater: I. Rain Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 1:49
22 Water, Sweetwater: II. Well Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 3:01
23 Water, Sweetwater: III. The Eternal Pilgrimage Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 2:22
24 Missa Vinea Crucis (Version for Female Choir & Organ): I. Kyrie Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 2:42
25 Missa Vinea Crucis (Version for Female Choir & Organ): II. Gloria Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 3:31
26 Missa Vinea Crucis (Version for Female Choir & Organ): III. Credo Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 5:34
27 Missa Vinea Crucis (Version for Female Choir & Organ): IV. Sanctus - Benedictus Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 2:16
28 Missa Vinea Crucis (Version for Female Choir & Organ): V. Agnus Dei Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 3:31
29 Missa Vinea Crucis (Version for Female Choir & Organ): VI. Deo Gratias Ilja Hurník Jitro Czech Girls Choir | Jiří Skopal, conductor 2:00

SOLOISTS
Michaela Urbanová (13-20)
Irena Mázlová (13-16, 18-20)
Pavla Frýdová (13-17, 19,20)
Anna Schreiberová (9,10,12,17,18)
Kateřina Růžičková (7)
Mirka Balcarová (9)
Martina Jelínková (22)
Daniela Čížková (24)
Kateřina Dolečková (24)
Barbora Hübnerová (25,26)

PIANO Michal Chrobák
ORGAN František Vaníček

Tracks 1-5 recorded March 3, 2008 at Philharmony Hall in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.

Tracks 6-12 recorded October 12, 2008 at Philharmony Hall in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.

Tracks 13-20 recorded October 11, 2008 at New Adalbertinum Hall in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.

Tracks 21-23 recorded April 18, 1999 at Beseda Hall in Chrudim, Czech Republic.
Recording Session Engineer Václav Vlachý
Recording Session Producer Jan Kyselák

Tracks 24-29 recorded June 10, 1996 in the Church of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Uničov, Czech Republic.
Recording Session Engineer Otakar Tajovský
Recording Session Producer Petr Řezníček

General Manager of Audio & Sessions Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

Executive Producer Bob Lord

Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Patrick Niland, Sara Warner

Artist Information

Jitro

Choir

Jitro, meaning “Daybreak” in Czech, is more than just a concert choir from Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. It is an organization of 400 children in seven preparatory ensembles, of which only the best 25 or 30 qualify to tour. For the past 45 years they have been admired all over the world for their tonal brilliance, superb intonation, distinctively rich blend of sound, and energetic vitality. Today, Jitro is considered one of the best children’s choirs in the world.

Learn More

Jiří Skopal

Conductor

Jiří Skopal, choral conductor and music educator, was born on August 15, 1947 in Velké Losiny, Czech Republic. Skopal received his first music education from his father, Jan Skopal, a choral conductor of North Moravia’s Teachers’ Association. For his Master’s in Education, he studied in Olomouc from 1965 to 1969, and received his doctorate in 1973. In 1982, he was named Associate Professor at the Charles University in Prague, and in 1994 he became a full Professor.

Learn More

Ilja Hurník

Composer

The life and work of Ilja Hurník (November 25, 1922–September 7, 2013) is a story about gifts and thanks. He described his own life story as a cultivation of those gifts: “I was given four rails: firstly the pianist’s, secondly the composer’s, thirdly the writer’s, and finally, the teacher’s.” These rails all led from the small Silesian village of Poruba, today a suburb of Ostrava in northern Moravia. He distributed these gifts starting at the age of 6 in a recitation and theatre ensemble and in his first compositions, aided by his studies of German grammar, piano, and music composition. Before the occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938, his family fled to Prague, and Hurník brought with him the cultural, literary, and musical idioms from his home. He continued his studies of piano with Vilém Kurtz and composition Vítězslav Novák at the conservatory, went on to study at the Academy of Performing Arts, and began a 20-year career as a soloist with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava, focusing on the piano works of Debussy and Janáček. At the same time, he became famous as a music educator and popularizer of classical music, commenting on concerts for school children and creating a magnificent gramophone edition of The Art of Listening to Music (1972).

In addition to his catalog of compositions, Hurník has written 30 books. On his birthday in 2011, he recalled the intertwining nature of his musical and literary careers, comparing them to two bowls on scales: “If composing gets stuck, I start making up stories. When I can’t think of any, I’ll go back to the sheet music. I always employ one cell and rest the other. That way, I’ll keep my balance.”
Hurník applied the brevity and concise expression of his native dialect to music and literature: “The saint says ‘unnecessary words are sinful.’ And unnecessary notes are sinful. There are two of us on stage. At first, the piano is a servant who does what I tell him. Later, he’s a friend I’m talking to. Sometimes something surprises me unexpectedly, I say, there’s a nuance in it, and it confirms that this is a moment that will never happen again.” When Hurník clarified his musical speech, he offered a reminder as to why he wasn’t an avant-garde modernist in a communist country: “We experienced a stifling atmosphere where we were pushed from above towards socialist realism. I found escape and freedom in neoclassicism. Although the draft of New Music invaded us, it suppressed the melody. I stayed with my way and I stick to it to this day.”

If the choir expresses its respect, admiration and experiences of singing with the already published monographic albums of Dvořák, Martinů, Mácha and Eben, the composer Ilja Hurník (* 1922) now enters this dramaturgical series. In 1980, Jitro sang Variations on a Mouse Theme in Olomouc at a competition. The piece Water, sweetwater was staged by the choir in 1988 for the 32nd Weeks of New Creation in Prague Rudolfinum, and has since been heard by listeners in Japan, the United States, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Switzerland, and other European countries. The Missa Vinea Crucis was performed by Professor Skopal with Jitro at festivals in Avignon, Strasbourg, New York, and many other places. “The children are great, they sing perfectly clean and with ease, astonishing in such a difficult song. The solos are excellent, the voice culture of the choir is also unprecedented, in all positions,“ the composer said in response to the recording of his mass. When family, musicians, and students in the church of St. Peter and Paul said goodbye to Ilja Hurník for the last time at Vyšehrad in Prague (September 17, 2013), there were parts of his Missa Vinea Crucis performed as a thank you for the stories he bequeathed to us through his life and work.

— Stanislav Bohadlo

photo: Jiří Skopal, Ilja Hurník, and Michal Chrobák over the score at Hurník’s home in Prague, Czech Republic (2008). Photo by Květoslava Skopalová

Notes

Children should learn about the different styles of music. They have a textbook for that, but I think they should feel the styles themselves with their singing. I wrote them a story about Bach, how the mouse bit his organ bellows, and he drove it away with nothing but a fugue! I also use the mouse to introduce children to classical music, romance, and today’s music.

The painter could draw a picture with a lot of crayons, but he chose only two. I could write songs with five voices, for example, but I only chose two. It is said, “Less is sometimes more.”

Once again, less is more. When the whole choir sings, it’s beautiful, like a big bouquet. But it’s not a bad thing if three flowers are removed and displayed on their own.

There are a lot of songs about water, rain, rivers, and wells. I tried something new in mine. The solo song is accompanied by two groups of choirs. They both sing the same thing, but one seems to be late, then they spill into each other. Was it a mistake? Is it confusion?

I received a wish from a small German town to write a children’s mass. I hesitated—would the children be able to understand the deep meaning of the mass? Or would they be fascinated by its poetic mystery? The German town is called Kreuzweingarten—Vinice Kříže in Czech, Vinea Crucis in Latin. The song ends with Deo gratias—”thank God”—and so does the record.

— Ilja Hurník (2008)

“Duets for children’s choir with piano accompaniment Ilja Hurník’s June Night caught Jitro as a sensitive performer of music by a familiar composer. Love folk lyrics (and a rhyme in the case of Vejr) are strung like contrasting beads into a seven-part cycle with a great opportunity for expressive contrast, full sound and remarkable solo parts. A total of five soloists, members of the choir, complemented the interpretive breadth and interest with new sound valeries, especially in The Moon in the Pond (no text), where the choir’s brumendo with two open vocals strongly evoked the enchantment of moonlight on the water surface.”
— Stanislav Bohadlo. Hradec Králové Children’s Choir Jitro at the Prague Spring, Harmonie plus, 9.05.2014

“You are absolutely amazing and your gifts went to my heart, warmed my soul and made my life better. Maestro, you are extraordinary and I am honored to know you! Singers, I am your biggest fan! Thank you!”
— Andrew Eisenmann

“A hugely enjoyable performance and great choice of repertoire! Your level of focus, rhythmic precision and intensity throughout your program was excellent. I love that you are staging this kind of repertoire, it is so different from what we often hear from children’s choir… Well, an incredible performance.”
— Dan Walker

Australian International Music Festival. The Sydney Opera House 7/5/2018, Choral Adjudication Sheets
“The choir prove their musicianship over a much longer time frame, as part of a broader ensemble. The first and best-loved panel of Songs from the Czech Highlands (1955-59, four settings of folk-inspired poems by Miroslav Bureš), The Opening of the Wells is just a joy to listen to, a wonderful synthesis of the simplicity of folk song with a larger, semi-dramatic canvas. I spent two days listening to this wonderful disc and the broadest of smiles never left my face.”
— Guy Rickards, Review MARTINŮ Openings. GRAMOPHONE 07/2020 www.gramophone.co.uk