One of the great ‘march kings’ of his time, Julius Fucik gained worldwide fame for his immortal Entry of the Gladiators, but after the composer’s...

One of the great ‘march kings’ of his time, Julius Fucik gained worldwide fame for his immortal Entry of the Gladiators, but after the composer’s death in 1916 many scores were lost. Painstaking editorial work has been carried out allowing us to hear the full range of Fucik’s works in these premiere recordings.

The National Museum – Czech Museum of Music has done its best to collect what remains of the composer's music, and about half of the contents of this album emanate from handwritten scores acquired by the museum but never performed, as there were no printed parts published as far as is known.

What makes this album so special is that it contains dance forms for which Fučík was little known. This recording therefore contains the first ever original orchestral performances in addition to seven pieces that have had to have performing sets created by a team of specialists who painstakingly prepared them from often poorly handwritten scores. But it is all genuine, original Fučík, and so puts this recording into a category of its own.