Rudolf Komorous

Portrait of the composer Rudolf Komorous
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Rudolf Komorous, born in Czechoslovakia in 1931, has had two distinct lives: the first, in Prague, as a composer, bassoonist in the Smetana Theatre orchestra, member of the Šmidrové artists’ group, and co-director, with Petr Kotík, of Musica Viva Pragensis; the second, from 1971, as a university professor and educator in Canada. (…)

The piano solo Wu (2002–2003) is one of the best examples of Komorous’s desire to simplify. In 31 sections, it is predominantly monophonic – occasionally there are chords, but only to give a moment’s colour, not an accompaniment. The harmonic idiom is unique to Komorous: it uses all 12 chromatic pitches, but organised in such a way that every pitch really is emancipated and allowed to enter into relationships that for a moment might allude to a known music, only to be dissolved and new ones to be created. (…)

(Christopher Butterfield)

1. Wu for piano solo ____64:03