Fifty

Occasional pieces can be charming. I had myself the opportunity to learn this at three editions of the Evenings of New Music festival for which many new and interesting works were composed – linked by a reference to a certain musical idea or directly reflecting the music (a particular work or group of works) of the author whose anniversary was being celebrated (Erik Satie in 1995, Johann Sebastian Bach in 2000, Charles Ives and Arnold Schönberg in 2004). In the course of 1997, I composed (When I’m) FIFTY for piano (LULLABY), dedicated to Milica Kailingová, my piano teacher, and it was followed by a series of few other pieces bearing the same subtitle. Besides the fact of being dedicated to the inscribed person, their common theme (material) is their relationship – articulated in a certain way – to the well known song When I’m Sixty-Four by Beatles. And finally, at springtime 2013, I was myself given by my friends and colleagues a collection of pieces dedicated to my own 50th birthday.

 

It was one of the greatest, most beautiful and most delightful surprises ever in my life. Today is the day when these pieces come to light, performed by their initiator and my friend Ivan Šiller and our common friend and colleague Fero Király.

 

Daniel Matej

 

<strong>Daniel Matej</strong>

First studied music theory and later composition at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava (with Ivan Parík and Juraj Beneš). During his studies he also visited Conservatoire National Supérieur de la Musique in Paris. Later he became a student of composition in Louis Andriessen’s class at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He was the co-founder of the festival Evenings of New Music, the initiator of contemporary and experimental music ensembles <em>VENI, Požoň sentimentál, VAPORI del CUORE, appendix CONSORT </em>and<em> VENI ACADEMY</em>.