The Unfulfilled Ritual

Bohumil Smejkal and the Unfulfilled Ritual

I dedicated this recording to the violinist, among other things the first violinist of the Janáček Quartet (1984–1994) and artistic director of BROLN, Mr. Bohumil Smejkal, my long-time friend and an exceptional interpreter who loved Janáček with extraordinary sensitivity.

My secret plan was that once the CD recording was complete, I would “kidnap” Bohumil to Janáček’s “little house” in Hukvaldy. There, I would set up a simple environment: a CD player, silence, recording equipment, and modest refreshments.

I would ask him to play the recording alone, by himself—and after each piece, in the moment of its resonance fading, to pick up his violin and capture whatever came to him. Without preparation, without an external plan.

Just a quiet impulse between Janáček’s house, Janáček’s music, Bohumil’s own human and musical sensitivity… and God.

The recording device would run uninterrupted, capturing everything.

And between the individual pieces, instead of the usual silence on the final recording, something inexpressible would emerge: a living response of the human soul to a profound encounter. I believed that, thanks to the genius loci and Bohumil’s perceptiveness, something sincerely truthful, intimate, and deep would arise.

However, Bohumil passed away suddenly on March 22, 2009. My dreamed-of live recording and our beautiful shared trip to Hukvaldy never came to pass. Yet it remains in my heart as a present absence. And that is precisely why I believe it is also a part of this work.

MJ