Kupkovič: Chamber Music for Violin & Piano

Sonatina in D major No. 3 (1979) 9:46

1. Allegro moderato 3:09

2. Vivo 1:32

3. Andante 2:22

4. Presto non troppo 2:30

5. Theme and 13 Variations (1981) 10:24

Sonata in F minor No. 5 (1991) 23:13

6. Sostenuto 9:52

7. Andante 5:44

8. Vivo 2:14

9. Non troppo 5:11 

10. Armenian Songs from Garin (1989) 7:27

11. March F major (1980) 4:00 

12. Double March in G major (1998) 3:40 

13. Compliment (2012) 4:24

14. Talisman (2013) 3:19

15. Souvenir (1971) 4:50 

Music composer, conductor and pedagogue Ladislav Kupkovič was born on March 17th, 1939 in Bratislava. He graduated from Bratislava conservatoire and from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava where he studied the violin and conducting. He was the conductor of orchestra ensemble Young Hearts, the member of the orchestra Lúčnica and the Slovak Philharmonic orchestra. In 1963 he initiated the formation of the ensemble Music of the Present Day that focused on musical performance of experimental music. He is ranked among the most-active young composers. In 1967 he won the prestigious award Igric for best film music of the year. For his distinctive song writing and performances he was awarded scholarship in 1969 that offered him annual creative stay in West Berlin. After his study stay he emigrated for West Germany and was employed in Köln. In 1973 he accepted the post at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien (Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media) in Hannover in the fields of New music, music theory and composition, where he was appointed a university professor in 1976. Since the nineteen-seventies, he began to compose tonal music which was a shift from his avant-garde works. In addition to the successful pedagogical activity he produced rich and diverse musical genres that contain three operas, seven symphonies, concertos and sonatas, string quartets, small virtuoso songs and hundreds pieces of film, television and stage music. For Missa Ioannis Pauli Secundi he was awarded 1st prize at Kirchenmusikwoche Neuss (Church Music Week Neuss). Since 1990 he regularly visited Slovakia. In 1996 he became the honorary citizen of Cífer. In May 2016 he was awarded Special Prize of the Slovak Copyright Protection Association of Slovak music culture. He died on 15 June, 2016 in Hannover.

Produced by Ctibor Kolínsky • Recording director František Poul • Recording engineer Václav Frkal • Commentary © Zuzana Berešová • Translations © Eva Králová, Irmhild Kupkovič • Design © Aleko • Cover © Elsa Siváková, stylized double portrait of Ladislav Kupkovič, acryl, 2016 • Photos © Ondra Vala, Archive Ladislav Kupkovič • Recorded digitally in Concert Hall Dvorana, Bratislava, October 2016 • Diskant, Račianska 97, 831 02 Bratislava, Slovakia • © 2016 Slovan Art • (P) 2016 DISKANT