Peter Breiner's
SLOVAK DANCES
Naughty + Nice
When we embarked on a journey towards Slovak Dances almost eight years ago, we all hoped for a journey shorter and easier. Unfortunately, the times when there was no problem to release an album with symphonic music are probably gone forever. All the more so for a double album of such music with a large orchestra and three soloists on unusual instruments. Nevertheless, we managed to bring this project to a successful end.
In the meantime, you may have noticed that Slovak Dances have embarked on a concert expedition and have been performed many times in various forms, ranging from solo piano, duo, trio or quartet, through a chamber orchestra version presented in Prague, Louisiana or Carnegie Hall in New York to a partial orchestral performance at Pohoda Festival and a large ballet spectacle at the Slovak National Theater. Our supporters partially enabled all those things as well.
In full form, however, the one-hundred-minute suite will be heard only on this long-awaited recording. We retained its original form, soloists and graphic design, and instead of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovak Dances were recorded by the Slovak Philharmonic, which is not only more appropriate, but as you will hear, soulful and great.
One day, when we all have more time, we will talk about all the unpredictable and unlikely problems that have caused this project to stretch for more than seven years. Just one example: when, after all peripeteia, we finally managed to schedule the recording with a more than one hundred piece orchestra in Reduta Hall in Bratislava, Slovakia, on the day of the recording my longtime sound master, one of the best in the world, was in a hospital, in a coma. We had to use a surrogate crew, but fortunately, doctors performed a miracle, and Otto could come after a few months and save the situation in post-production. This also greatly extended our schedule.
Today we can finally present the result of our work. You can stream the excerpts or download the whole recording at Instant Encore
Our heartfelt thanks go to all 180 sponsors, the soloists, the orchestra, editorial team and the leadership of the Slovak Philharmonic, recording teams, Sasha Santiago for tens of promotional videos, webpage and crowdfunding campaign, Sväťo Mikyta and Palo Bálik for graphic design, Vlado Godár for the notes, Dr. Ivan Marton for his great efforts in managing the recording, and one of the soloist and also the most generous sponsor of all — Boris Lenko, together with mixers Otto Nopp and Franto Poul for saving the project at the final stage.
We wish you a pleasant and inspiring experience with sixteen Slovak Dances.