The Slovakian word trávnica means a hay-harvesting song. Trávnice (plural) originate from my native High Tatra Mountain region. This composition quotes one of such songs: “Cua som na viaži hodziny bic” (“I heard the clock tolling on the tower”) from the Važec village. Characteristic for their sustained tones, triadic harmonies and unusual call-like effects, the hay-harvesting songs are the true historical artifacts of music life in the rural Slovakia.
Trávnica I is the first from a composition series that contextualize Slovakian hay songs in the contemporary music setting. The composition engages five performers in a creation of a spatialised musical rite. The players move around on stage or around the audience from station to station, emulating the calls of the harvest. While the glimpses of triadic harmonies emerge at moments, the sound world of Trávnica I resides on the thresholds of pitch, noise and silence.
Listen to the audio recording of Trávnica I performed by Atticus Brass Quintet at the Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library here.
Watch the video of Trávnica I performed by Atticus Brass Quintet at the Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library here.
Duration: ca. 7 minutes and 30 seconds