Nine Czech mates
What is so intriguing about the number nine? You’ve got the Beatles’ “Revolution 9,” a musical experiment on The White Album, and Old No. 9, the famous steam engine. There are nine Muses, nine players on a baseball team (playoff time, you know), nine justices on the Supreme Court, nine months in a human gestation, cats with nine lives, getting dressing to the nines, 99 bottles of beer on the wall, and, my favorite, nine times out of 10.
The one thing I hadn’t heard mentioned is a nonet — nine musicians playing together. Actually I had never heard of that one until this week. Quartets, quintets, and sextets? Yes. Nonets? Well, no. They’re rare in the world of musical combinations.
The most famous nonet is the Czech Nonet, formed in Prague in 1924. The group, billed as one of the world’s oldest continuously performing chamber ensembles, comprises flute, clarinet, English horn, French horn, bassoon, and a string quartet made up of a violin, viola, violoncello, and contrabass. The sound produced by single instruments representing major families of a symphony orchestra gives the ensemble its strength and peculiar beauty. Throughout the Czech Nonet’s existence this unusual combination has enabled the group to tackle contemporary and challenging works of classical music, often premieres of controversial compositions. Each of the nonet’s nine members is recognized as an outstanding musician outside the ensemble, as well, with players performing both as concert soloists and recording artists.
The rich history of the Prague-based ensemble began in the pre-pop days when classical music reigned supreme in the minds of the masses and continued through the harrowing years of Nazi occupation during World War II, spectacular heights of touring and acclaim in the 1950s and ’60s during the years of Communist rule, and international recording fame in the 1970s and ’80s. It nearly collapsed in the 1990s, but has since regrouped.
Now back with renewed purpose and vigor, this proud and peculiar group travels the world, astonishing listeners while advocating the great value of acoustic classical chamber music.
The Czech Nonet performs in Rammelkamp Chapel, on the campus of Jacksonville’s Illinois College (217-245-3069), at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 13. Tickets cost $15 at the door; admission is free for all students, regardless of what school they attend.
Contact Tom Irwin at tirwin@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Oct 5-11, 2006.
