For many years Pavel Stanék (1927) worked for the Czech Radio. In 1963, he became the chief conductor of the Ostrava Radio Orchestra and remained in that position until 1990. At the same time, he started to work with the Vitkovák concert band. In the meantime he acquired an international reputation as a prolific composer: His musical œuvre encompasses many works of the so-called "smaller" genres, arrangements of folk songs, concert music which often is firmly rooted in the musical traditions of his country and, of course, larger-scale orchestral works as well as pieces for chamber music. Melodic inventiveness, formal clarity and an expert understanding for orchestral colors are typical of his easily understandable music. At the same time, inspirations coming from the folklore of his native country are of great importance in his musical output.
It is very interesting to note what an Italian source has to say on the tarantella: “The Tarantella Dance music is probably the most recognized dance of all the Italian folklore music. It literally means “tarantula” because the dance is done buy everyone in a great big circle going clockwise, until the music in set changes, becomes faster, then they quickly change the direction to counterclockwise, this continues several times and is fun to see who keeps up. You can see this dance at authentic Italian weddings, it is often the theme song of many restaurants and pizzerias, and it can even be heard in “The Godfather” movie.
The tarantella is generally played with a strong mandolin presence with each region having its own version. For example the most popular version you will undoubtedly hear most frequently is the Neapolitan version. The Sicilian tarantella (conco d’ ora) is quite different, but has a similar melody.
Pavel Stanék’s “Tarantella” is yet another example of entertaining music coming from his never exhausting pen, and testifies to his feeling at home in various musical styles of different periods in music.