Janáček - Complete Chamber & Orchestral Work

5 CD set of complete chamber and orchestral works of Leoš Janáček by various artists: Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Charles Mackerras, London Philharmonic Orchestra, François Huybrechts, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Neville Marriner, Paul Crossley (piano), Gabrieli String Quartet, members of the London Sinfonietta, London Sinfonietta Chorus, Eva Urbanová (soprano), Marta Beňačková (mezzo-soprano),Vladimir Bogachov (tenor), Richard Novák (bass), Thomas Trotter (organ), Slovak Philharmonic Choir, Riccardo Chailly, Kenneth Sillito (violin).

JCW

Vaňhal - Symphonies

Jan Křtitel Vaňhal (generally known as Johann Batist Vanhal) was a Czech composer of classical era (1739-1813). Born in Nechanice, Bohemia, to a Czech peasant family, Vanhal received his early training from a local musician. From these humble beginnings he was able to earn a living as a village organist and choirmaster. The Countess Schaffgotsch, who heard him playing the violin, took him to Vienna in 1760, where she arranged lessons in composition with Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. Further patronage helped him to travel and gain further knowledge of music and by the age of 35, he was moving in exalted musical company: it is reported he played quartets with Haydn, Mozart, and Dittersdorf. Vanhal tailored his output to economic realities of the day and ceased writing symphonies in the late-1770s. He wrote three operas: Il Demofoonte (1770), Il trionfo di Clelia (1770), and The Princess of Tarento. In the 1770s, Vaňhal met the contrabassist Johannes Matthias Sperger and wrote a double bass concerto for him. The English music historian Charles Burney visited Vaňhal in 1772. Mozart performed Vanhal’s Violin Concerto in B flat in Augsburg in 1777. In or around 1784, Haydn, Dittersdorf, Mozart and Vaňhal played string quartets together; Haydn and Dittersdorf played the violins, Mozart the viola, and Vaňhal cello. This recording is performed by London Mozart Players with conductor Matthias Bamert.

VJS

Smetana - Orchestral Works

Three-disc set of Bedřich Smetana's orchestral works with Vladimir Válek leading the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Not only does it contain Smetana's orchestral masterpiece Má Vlast plus his three fairly well-known tone poems Richard III, Wallenstein's Campo, and Hakon Jarl, it also contains his nearly completely unknown four-movement Triumph Symphony, his almost totally unknown March for Shakespeare, and the Ceremonial Prelude in C major along with three short orchestral dances, the Georginen, the Louisen, and the Our Lasses Polkas.

SOW

Dvořák - Symphonic Poems

Just about every Czech conductor has recorded Dvořák's four symphonic poems based on the poetry of Karel Erben. At the successful end of spectrum are Vaclav Talich's dramatic 1951 recordings and Rafael Kubelik's lyrical 1975 recordings. To challenge the Czechs' hegemony, we have Charles Mackerras' 2010 accounts, which come very close to taking Talich's place as the finest performances of these works ever recorded. Recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in lushly detailed digital sound.

DSP

Kabeláč - Improvisación sobre Hamlet, Invenciónes para percusión

Hamlet Improvisation for large orchestra, Op. 46 (1962-63) and 8 Invenzioni for percussion instruments (by Prague Percussion Ensemble), Op. 45 (1962-63) by Miloslav Kabeláč (1908 -1979), the most original personality of Czech modern music of second half of 20th century.

KHI

Novák - Autumn Symphony

Vítězslav Novák (1870-1949): Autumn Symphony, Op. 62 (1931-1934) for male and female chorus and orchestra by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Karel Ančerl. It's a reflection on the brevity of life and passing of time, work of balancing life, consolation and celebration of joys and beauties that life has brought but also still can bring. The first eight minutes of the 2nd movement are purely orchestral and make an ouverture to the vocal scene of Moravian folk festivity. Not long after beginning melodic and rhytmic elements of Moravian folk music appear and Novák's complex polyphony gets a dancing temperament with the specific tinge gradually.

NAS

Martinů - Three Fragments and Suite From the Opera Juliette

Three Fragments and Suite From the Opera Juliette of Bohuslav Martinů, performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by sir Charles Mackerras, with soloist Magdalena Kožená (mezzosoprano). Juliette is Martinu's operatic masterpiece and one of the most distinctive of all 20th-century operatic works. The plot is hallucinatory and wonderfully weird. Charles Mackerras delivers his usual outstanding results, the Czech Philharmonic plays amazingly, and the principal singers, especially Kožená and Davislim, sing beautifully. We still need a new recording of the complete opera, but until then this will do nicely. Essential for anyone who cares about 20th-century opera, or Martinů generally.

BOJ

Mysliveček - Il divino Boemo: Symphonies

Josef Mysliveček (1737–1781) was a Czech composer of gallant style, who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism. Mysliveček provided his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with significant compositional models in the genres of symphony, opera, and violin concerto. Ensemble Concerto Köln's "Il divino boemo" is one of the group's projects, bringing its considerable artistry to bear on a composer whose reputation has been less fortunate than that of his contemporaneous peers. In this case, the truffle is Josef Mysliveček, the "divine Czech" , in his time popular for his operas and oratorios, but already considered passé by his early death in 1781.

MJS

Dvořák - Symphony No.9, In Nature Realm, Othello Concert Ouverture

The recording of Symphony No.9, In Nature Realm, Othello Concert Ouverture, performing by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Karel Ančerl. Antonín Dvořák´s Symphony No.9, e-minor, op.95, named "From The New World" ("Novosvětská symfonie" in Czech) is certainly the composer´s supreme symphonic work, and it also ranks among the supreme symphonies of all times. Dvořák worked on it from early 1893 to May 24 of the same year, in the first year of his stay in America. The circumstances under which it was composed also determined its character and purpose. The special atmosphere of American folk music is unmistakeable to the symphony, although Dvořák made no direct use of Indian or other songs. Dvořák´s style is sometimes called a "classicist-romantic synthesis".

DS9

Sir Charles Mackerras conducts Leoš Janáček

Sir Charles Mackerras (1925-2010), Australian conductor, an authority on the operas of Leoš Janáček and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In 1978, he was presented with the Janáček Medal and in 1996, he received the Medal of Merit of Czechia for services to Czech music. This album, recorded with Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, content symphonic poem "Taras Bulba", "Sinfonietta" and ouvertures of operas "The Cunning Little Vixen" and "Káťa Kabanová"

MPJ

Voříšek - Symphony in D major, Op.24

Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek (1791-1825), was a Czech composer of classicist era, pianist, and organist, but his compositions move in special way to the early romantism. Although Voříšek died young, he bequethed noteworhy works, predominantly his Symphony in D major, op.24, which is the example of his innovative romantic elements. One of the newest, and simultanously one of the best performances of the opus is this recording by Prague Chamber Philharmony with the conductor Jiří Bělohlávek.

VSD

Smetana - My Country, Bartered Bride

Excerpts from symphonic poem "Má Vlast" (My Country) and instrumental parts from the opera "Prodaná nevěsta" (Bartered Bride) of Bedřich Smetana, performed by Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by James Levine.

SIP

Janáček - Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba

"Sinfonietta" and symphonic poem "Taras Bulba" by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Karel Ančerl. Excitement, accuracy, passion, color, and expressive immediacy.  What other performance propels the second-movement ostinatos so forcefully, or builds the third movement's central climax with such explosive energy? Who else observes the various tempo changes in the brief fourth movement so effectively, wringing every drop of variety from its many repetitions of its opening trumpet tune? And who else drives the finale to positively expressionistic extremes of tension, making the return of the opening fanfares a moment of apocalyptic grandeur? I love this work, and enjoy other performances (including Kubelík, Neumann, Jílek, and Mackerras), but this is one of those rare occasions where you really can point your finger to a single version and say, "This is the best."

JST

Novák - Slovácká suita

Vítězslav Novák (December 5, 1870 – July 18, 1949) was one of the most well-respected Czech composers and pedagogues, almost singlehandedly founding a Czech 20th century  school of composition. Stylistically, he was a leading figure in the Neo-Romanticism movement, occasionally considered an early example of Czech modernism. Slovácká suita (Slovak suite) pro malý orchestr, op. 32 was composed in 1903.

NSS

Martinů - Symphonies Nos.1-4

Bohuslav Martinů - Symphonies Nos.1-4 by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Václav Neumann.  From the complete of all 6 symphonic works, recorded between 1976 and 1978.

M4S

Hirsch - Symphonies Nos.2 & 3

Vladimír Hirsch's Symphony for integrated ensemble and electronics, op. 47, "Defensa" (1997) and "Sinfonia integra per orchestra, organo e percussione", op.52 (1998). Performed by Czech Integrated Ensemble with soloists Martina Sanollová (vocals) and Vladimír Hirsch (organ, other keyboard instruments, electronics). Formally classical compositions, using digitally processed instrumentation and synthetic sounds. Symphony No.3 was performed live in 1999 at the Prague Industrial Festival under the patronage of the Open Society Fund. This album is a revised version of both works from 2003.

H23

Dvořák - Symphonies Nos.7, 8 & 9

Antonín Dvořák - Symphonies Nos.7, 8 & 9 by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Václav Neumann. The output of nine symphonies by Czech composer Antonin Dvořák has ranked continuously, since its completion to this day, amongst the constituent pillars of the European symphonic repertoire as a whole. The sheer strength of Dvořák´s melodic invention has never ceased to enthrall experts and the general public alike. After all, it was found breathtaking even by more than a few of the composer´s prominent contemporaries (as evidenced by Brahms´ statement: "Dvořák´s themes for his subordinate ideas would easily supply me with enough material for principal subjects in my own work..."). The star of Dvořák´s creative genius shines with the brightest magnitude in the sky of world music. His last four symphonies in particular have become firmly embedded as staple parts of the repertoire embraced by professional symphony orchestras worldwide, widely popular with audiences everywhere for their brilliant and thoroughly gratifying instrumentation. This digital recording, made in the 1980s, relies on the century-old authentic interpretive tradition of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra whose early history saw Antonin Dvořák himself at the conductor´s post, followed by such legends of the baton as Václav Talich, Karel Ančerl, and in his own time, of course, Václav Neumann, a Dvořákian specialist and an artist of inimitable charisma.

DTS

Martinů - Symphonies Nos.5 & 6, Memorial to Lidice

Symphonies Nos.5 & 6 of Bohuslav Martinů by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Karel Ančerl. Last two symphonic compositions of Bohuslav Martinů - incidentally, works which Ančerl recorded at a time when the exiled composer was less than acceptable to political powers of his home country. The album contains besides Symphony No.5 and Symphony No.6, which is called "Fantaisies symphoniques", also symphonic poem "Memorial to Lidice".

M56

Fišer - Extracta

The horizon of Luboš Fišer’s  (1935-1999) world, as reflected in his compositions, is extensive. It is delineated by broad borders of his cultural knowledge and interests. He understood the excursions into the past only in relation with the present. His works have often both the mood of celebration, and warning as well. Fišer’s contribution to contemporary musical culture is considerable, his compositions often grasp the dynamic lifestyle of our modern era which he managed to express in a lapidary form of almost atomic energy. This album is a selection from his works.

FLE

Mahler - Symphony No.9

Gustav Mahler (1860, Kaliště, Czechia-1911, Vienna, Austria) was a composer, born in a Jewish, German speaking family in the Highlands in Czechia. He also conducted Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, especially the world premiere of his 7th Symphony. Mahler is regarded as as a great symphonist. To some extent, Mahler is considered also as a Czech composer, both in terms of place of birth, and for his inspiration Czech folk music, which recognizes all the specialized literature in foreign languages ​​except German. This recording is from the set of 10 Mahler symphonies by Rafael Kubelík (1914– 1996),  a renowned Czech conductor. He was chief-conductor of Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and he had first conducted the Czech Philharmonic in 1934 when he was 20 years old. He was director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera of the New York City and worked with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, etc.

MS9