Description
0:05 - "Humoreska", No. 27
2:33 - "Legenda", No. 28
World's premiere recording of the entire "30 Miniatures for double bass and piano" by František Hertl (1906-1973). Performed by Božo Paradžik (double bass) and Annalisa Orlando (piano)
Today on April 18th, on the day when the composer was born (in 1906), we will celebrate his lifetime and life work with the release of final three videos of 30 miniatures. So we begin the anniversary year: on this day in 2026 will be 120 years since František Hertl was born (and yes, I am preparing something spectacular for 2026, but it is another subject).
This cyclus of 30 short gems (in total more than 90 minutes of music) remained for almost 50 years in the basement of the house where Hertl lived hidden in a cardboard box, which was full of manuscripts. Composer's daughter informed my dear professor Jiří Hudec about the existence of the handwritten music. So I have started with publishing PDF music step-wise almost exactly 10 years ago, in 2015. It is a big and emotional moment for all of us now, as a massive and long project is being completed today.
Humoresque is one of the impressive works among 30 miniatures. It contains some unforgettable musical ideas. It is particularly interesting that Hertl uses the same theme here in the middle section as in miniature No.3. As miniature No.27 is mathematically the third before the end of the cycle, the middle part theme re-appears "on the other side", like in the mirror, and this should have a symbolic meaning. However, this is a question that only the composer would know the answer to, but he left nothing about it. The composer died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure shortly after completing the 30 miniatures and did not even have enough time to take care of the publication of the 30 miniatures. So we now finally did it almost 50 years later and saved the music for the present and future generations of the musicians. This pair of miniatures is in an usual order: fast/slow.
With a purchase of the PDF music, you will automatically support our charity project. Until the beginning of 2022, whole turnover was 100% forwarded to composer's daughter, who lives on a very tight budget in Prague. Since beginning of 2022, a minor part of the turnover has been used to partially cover the costs of this video production. The miniatures can be purchased either as "six-packs" (for example No 1-6, 7-12 etc) or full edition, all 30 miniatures as a set.