Pavel Staněk

Serenade for Winds

The Czech composer Pavel Stanék was born in Prague in 1927. There he studied at the Conservatory until 1950 and was the choirmaster of the Folklore Ensemble from 1950 to 1954. During his military service he took over the direction of the Central Wind Orchestra of the Ministry of the Interior and remained there as artistic director and conductor for almost six years. From 1961 to 1963 Pavel Stanék was a conductor in the operetta theater 'Na Fidlovacce' in Prague and from 1963 he was the chief of the Radio Orchestra in Ostrava and kept this post until 1990. During this period and beyond he was also a guest conductor with many orchestras. Stanék's compositional work always remains rooted in his Bohemian homeland, despite a great openness to currents in modern music, including jazz. This is where he has his roots, and the almost inexhaustible wealth of melodies that inspired Dvorák and Smetana also forms the basis of his music. In addition to numerous extraordinary works for wind orchestra, Stanék also composes wonderful pieces for smaller ensembles, in which his unique tonal language comes into its own. 'Serenade for Winds' is a versatile work in five movements for woodwind quintet.