The centrepiece of the present album is the surviving music and, in a broader sense, the remarkable figure of Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice (1564–1621), a Czech aristocrat, politician, traveller, writer and composer, one of the 27 leaders of the uprising of the Bohemian estates against the Habsburg dynasty, who after being defeated at the Battle of White Mountain were upon Emperor Ferdinand II’s command publicly executed on 21 June 1621 in the Old Town Square in Prague.

Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice (1564–1621) was a Renaissance man in both the literal and figurative sense. The latter rests in the range of his activities, from politics to travel to composing, evoking, at least to a certain extent, the ideal of homo universalis, created and epitomised by such Italian polymaths as Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci. And as regards the literal sense, it reflects the fact that his generation represented the belated, modest Bohemian Renaissance. Titled Journey from the Kingdom of Bohemia to Venice, From There to the Holy Land, Judea and to Egypt, Later to Mount Horeb, Sinai and Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Desert Arabia,
Harant’s travel book bears the Renaissance ethos owing to its reflecting the relentless urge to see and learn about “the other,” to transcend the existing cultural horizons, to compare and to assess. The extraordinary book served as inspiration for a “musical travelogue” that was first presented in concert and subsequently gave rise to this album. The storyline proceeds in reverse order, beginning with Harant’s execution and declaration of faith. Then it describes his journey from Pecka Castle to Jerusalem. The musical masterpieces from the exotic lands of the Ottoman Empire, Syria, Palestine, Sinai and Persia, handed down orally from generation to generation, etch in the local atmosphere, as Harant himself may have experienced it during his travels.

Nowadays, we feel it is more important than ever to build and recreate bridges between civilisations, cultures and peoples. Bridges that encourage us to come together and to reconcile, bridges that call for dialogue and conversation, for a synergy of ideas and actions that help us to live a more peaceful present and to prepare a better future together. This is not just an ideal or a utopian vision of humanity, but a real and urgent need for the healing of our society.
 
CAPPELLA MARIANA
Hana BLAŽÍKOVÁ | soprano
Barbora KABÁTKOVÁ | soprano
Daniela ČERMÁKOVÁ | alto
Vojtěch SEMERÁD | tenor, artistic director
Tomáš LAJTKEP | tenor
Ondřej HOLUB | tenor
Tore DENYS | tenor
Jaromír NOSEK | bass

CONSTANTINOPLE
Didem BAŞAR | kanun
Neva ÖZGEN | kemence
Patrick GRAHAM | percussion
Kiya TABASSIAN | voice, setar, artistic director
 
Jiří GEMROT, Lambert COLSON, Markéta JANÁČKOVÁ TOMKOVÁ | recording director
Aleš DVOŘÁK | sound engineer
Matouš VLČÍNSKÝ | producer

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