The Life and Work of a Classical Composer Today

Related Sheet Music in our Stretta-Shop:

• Zdeněk Král – Sheet Music & Scores
• Czech Classical Music – Sheet Music

Dr. Zdeněk Král is one of the most prominent figures in modern Czech classical music. So we are delighted to welcome him to Stretta Music and to present him to you. With more than 1000 compositions, Král is not only a prolific composer, but also an excellent piano improviser and actor.

Král's musical spectrum is broad: he writes classical music (chamber, choral and orchestral music), incidental music for theatre and radio, theatre songs and chansons, jazz and jazz rock compositions, film and advertising music, songbooks with folk song arrangements, fairy tales for children and incidental music for the theatre.

His awards include the Classic Prague Award for Best Classical Composition 2019 for (Magnificat) and the jury prize for The Little Mole together with Martin Krajíček for the KK Band Project. He was honoured by the Czech Rights Collecting Society OSA as the most-performed composer of classical music in 2018 and 2019, as well as for his most-performed composition Where is our homeland?.

This interview with Zdeněk Král was originally conducted in Czech by Stretta editor Dr. Tomáš Ibrmajer.

---

Tomáš Ibrmajer: What inspires you to write, Zdeněk?

Zdeněk Král: Everything inspires me, you could say. From romantic ideas like rain or clouds to church bells, the kettle and the slamming of a car door - that's a nice sound because every car door slams differently.

My motto is: I don't write music, I create emotions. So in general my work is about conveying emotions and feelings, be it joy, sadness, trust, anticipation, empathy or frustration and the different phases in between.

TI: How did you come to composition?

ZK: My first composition was a funeral march (in A minor), and I wrote it at the age of ten when I had a toothache, so my compositional beginnings are associated with pain and suffering... (laughs)

The second piece was for violin and piano and I wrote it for my grandmother. We played it together. After that, it kind of just happened by itself... I once had a vivid dream that I went to the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno to study composition. I listened to this dream, passed the admissions process, and was offered a place.

TI: Do you have any role models when it comes to composing?

ZK: As a young teenager, my source of inspiration was the music my parents played on the tape recorder at home. My mother liked to listen to songs from the avant-garde Prague Semafor and Liberated Theatres and the Beatles, my father to classical music: Franz Schubert's 'Unfinished', Ludwig van Beethoven, Jean Sibelius and Frédéric Chopin. So in those early stages of composition, it was this music that influenced me.

Of course, much more followed. I have heard all the compositions of Frédéric Chopin and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and I know them inside out. I also love Leoš Janáček, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Witold Lutosławski, Olivier Messiaen... I was also very inspired by Leonard Bernstein. And as I compose in many musical genres I have also been inspired by jazz composers and performers such as Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis, Brad Mehldau, Snarky Puppy, Cory Henry. I'm also inspired by film composers like John Williams, Hans Zimmer or pop stars like Sting, Kate Bush and many, many others that I listen to, or hear about by accident.

From the contemporary classical music field, I like David Lang, Marcus Paus and the most performed classical composer of all time, Arvo Pärt. All good compositions, no matter what genre, are my role models.

---

Zdeněk Král's influences:

TI: Do you only compose commissioned works or also 'for the archives'?

ZK: Yes, I also write pieces that aren’t direct commissions. And often. I'm writing, and I don't yet know if it will be for anyone in particular, I'm just logging it. Eventually it starts turning into something concrete (and sometimes not), and in the end I offer it to artists.

But I also write songs for myself – they are 'in the drawer', so to speak. I publish and distribute them via online music retailers – and recently also via Stretta Music (Zdeněk Král – Sheet music! Also, such songs can be found on my Spotify profile.

TI: Do you compose with the help of an instrument or "in your head" so to speak?

I usually write directly on my tablet, which I can use anywhere. I check some stuff on the piano, and when I'm writing pieces for a theatre where perhaps someone can play the ukulele, I write and play on the ukulele.

TI: Do you approach performers to play your works and are you successful with that?

ZK: That's relative. If I consider composing as a hobby, there are a lot of offers from performers. But in a professional environment, when a work is to be performed several times, there are obstacles. Performers often have certain limitations when signed to an agency or label. They often tell them what to play, and they don't even have the capacity or opportunity to select and interpret the works of their contemporaries.

On the other hand, I have to say that I'm terribly slow when I'm writing for others. So the obstacles are both objective and subjective, and I am responsible for a large part of them myself! Nevertheless: If you want a work from me, then of course I will write it!

Luckily I have a performer who takes my songs straight away and plays them without grumbling: myself! (laughs)

TI: What are your dreams as a composer? Are there a few things you still want to achieve?

ZK: More confidence in carrying out my work. Better feedback. I would like to learn more instruments so I can write better for them. I would like to work on my compositions with orchestras, choirs and ensembles. I really enjoy working with people who trust me and like my music. Sometimes my life is more about building trust than composing.

TI: What's in your 'creative toolbox'? How do you go about composing?

ZK: To save time (and money), I also use samples instead of live musicians for background music for theatre, radio or film. When I get lyrics for a children's performance, I put the text on the piano, press record on my phone, and immediately sing, and improvise. Sometimes that works well, and it forms the basis for the melodies I then work with. Otherwise I write songs in two stages. First, I just write whatever feels good in the moment, one bar at a time. I try out a lot and gradually 'cut' the piece together. In the second phase, when I've been off work for a few days, I try to adjust and improve everything so that the music can stand firmly on both feet.

TI: Is composing your main vocation?

ZK: Yes, but live performances are also part of it because I play in 90% of my own compositions.

I also really enjoy working with people and try, for example, to take part in all theatre rehearsals. I usually have five to ten songs in a show that I rehearse with the actors. I really enjoy it and it's refreshing. And there is also the rest of the accompanying music, which has already been recorded, for which I act as an interpreter - as a musician from the studio.

TI: What have you achieved in the field of composition?

ZK: I appreciate all performances of my works. I appreciate my audience, who react very positively to my compositions. I've won many prizes, but of course I don't overestimate them. I take it more to mean that it's about the responsibility of not disappointing the listener next time, and giving them something that uplifts them, delights them, gives them hope and meaning, like I believe that music and culture should do

TI: Is there anything that bothers you about the composing profession?

ZK: I'm terribly impatient in the phase between the completed composition and the actual performance. I always worry about whether what I've written sounds good. Particularly with the larger works, the wait can sometimes last several years, even if there are fixed agreements with artists, theatres or other institutions. At least during these phases I have time to wash the dishes and clean the house. (laughs)

TI: Finally, is there anything you would like to say to our readers?

ZK: I would like to encourage everyone who has read this far to listen to classical music! If you want you can find me on social media (FB, YT, IG) and visit my website: www.zdenekkral.net

TI: Thank you very much for the interview!

If you want to get acquainted with the music of Zdeněk Král, his first 50 compositions are available to download from Stretta Music… and more will follow.