Programme notes:

Tereza Jaďuďová (b. 2001)
Fantasy on Mor ho!, Op. 60b
Written in 2024

Based on her monumental symphonic poem Mor ho! (Op. 60), Jaďuďová’s Fantasy on Mor ho! reimagines the work as a condensed orchestral version. While shortened for practical performance, it retains the majority of the original thematic material, preserving the narrative arc and artistic intent.

The source of inspiration remains Samo Chalupka’s Mor ho!, a heroic Romantic epic of Slovak literature. In this instrumental form, Jaďuďová continues to dramatise the confrontation between two opposing worlds. The Slavs are depicted through tonal and modal language, often coloured by modes associated with Slovak folk music such as the podhalanská (acoustic) and octatonic scales. In contrast, the Romans are characterised by rhythmic complexity, frequent changes of metre, and a move away from tonality into dense chromaticism and clusters.

These two musical worlds appear separately at first, then collide in episodic “battles.” The result is a tightly constructed sequence of contrasts—pastoral calm against martial tension, folk-inspired song against brutal dissonance—culminating in a conclusion that, while reduced in scale, preserves the moral and symbolic power of the original.

Instrumentation:

picc, 2fl, 2ob, corA, 2cl, bcl, 2bn, cbn, 4hn, 3tpt, 3trbn, tba, timp, 5perc [SD, trl, BD, cyms, t-t, tamb, xyl], hp, pf, str [16vln I, 14vln II, 12vla, 10vc, 8db]

Premiere:

14/02/2025, Bratislava (Slovakia), Concert Hall Reduta.

Performers: Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor – Ondrej Olos