In September 2023, PMP is proud to release Anthony Braxton's "Four Compositions (Wesleyan) 2013", a limited deluxe 4-CD box set documenting the one-time meeting of an all-star trio featuring the legendary saxophonist and composer alongside Roland Dahinden (trombone), and Hildegard Kleeb (piano). This is the first album of the new Czech label PMP. Art Lange describes the impetus for the session in the liner notes: The 4 CD set box Four Compositions (Wesleyan) 2013 is built on the latest evolutional stage of Anthony Braxton's lifelong conceptualization and personalization of notation called Falling River Music. Braxton's systematic approach balances methodology and mythology, utilizing a variety of graphic designs as symbolic and representational characterizations of his sound vision. The scores incorporate numerical and alphabetical equations, abstract diagrams, and sections of conventional notation, along with spontaneously conceived, painted gestures connected to a web-like pattern of shorthand. In this album, Braxton explores the concept of "aesthetic networking "by having three musicians play from different scores simultaneously, creating a unique blend of impressions. The collaborative efforts of Roland Dahinden (trombone) and Hildegard Kleeb (piano) bring an intimate awareness of Braxton's language types and transformational procedures, resulting in rotating voicings, morphing tonalities, and labyrinthine counterpoint. Braxton's characteristic reed colors and personal lyricism are also showcased, along with occasional electronic elements, to enhance the overall sonic experience.

The album “Britten”, released by Animal Music, comprises three essential choral works by one of the most distinguished 20th-century composers, Benjamin Britten, in new recordings by the Czech vocal ensemble Martinu Voices conducted by its founding artistic director Lukáš Vasilek and featuring soloists Katerina Englichová (harp) and Daniela Valtová Kosinová (organ). Te Deum in C, A Ceremony of Carols and Hymn to St. Cecilia occupy a special place in Britten’s oeuvre. Writing music for choirs of all shapes and sizes enabled Britten to carry out his long-term goal, i.e. to create music that would be “useful” or, in other words, that could serve his community and fulfil the democratic potential of choral singing. Each of the three works was intended for different forces: one for choir and organ, one for choir and harp, and one for unaccompanied choir. The compositions very well illustrate Britten’s ability to create an entirely different world with each new composition. All three works come from an in-between stage in his life and career. Te Deum in C originated in 1934 when Britten’s personal and professional life had temporarily come to a standstill, the other two compositions were written, in part, during an Atlantic crossing when Britten and his partner Peter Pearse were returning from the US to Britain in 1942, having spent three years in America. The most popular of the three pieces is A Ceremony of Carols which has become a stock piece on the repertoire of school choirs, choir associations as well as professional ensembles and is regularly performed to this day. With “Britten”, Martinu Voices add another recording to their string of profile albums dedicated to diverse masters of choral composition – having previously released albums with music by Bohuslav Martinu (2018) and Jan Novák (2014). Lukáš Vasilek is one of the foremost Czech choir conductors. Apart from being the artistic director of Martinu Voices he is the chief conductor of Prague Philharmonic Choir and has collaborated, among others, with Jirí Belohlávek, Simon Rattle, Semjon Byckov, Manfred Honeck, Gianandrea Noseda, and world-renowned orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Symphonic Orchestra. In 2023, he conducted a remarkable concert performance of Britten’s War Requiem in which he combined the forces of the Prague Philharmonic Choir with those of three orchestras and three international soloists. On the cover, a portrait of Benjamin Britten by the famous photographer Cecil Beaton has been used. It was taken in 1942, around the time the composer was working on some of these pieces. The liner notes include a text on Benjamin Britten and his choral works by the British musicologist Dr. Lucy Walker.

Jazz Dock Orchestra, whose career was established by their first gig in January 2018, is a “house bigband” for Jazz Dock, the renowned Prague jazz club, a magic and favourite place on the riverside, where top players form the Czech jazz scene and from abroad meet and play. The Orchestra consists of some of the best Czech and Slovak musicians, helmed by the English saxophonist and composer, Andy Schofield. So far the Jazz Dock Orchestra has welcomed several legendary guests at its gigs, among them Kurt Elling, Richard Bona, Ben Wendel and Niels Klein, and has played compositions and arrangements by the classics like Duke Elligton, Bob Brookmeyer, Charles Mingus or Gil Evans. Nevertheless, on this album, released to celebrate the band's 5th anniversary, the musicians present the compositions by their own co-leaders – Andy Schofield and Jan Jirucha. The album was recorded live to capture the inimitable atmosphere and the unique energy often returned to the players by their fantastic audience at the Orchestra's regular monthly gigs at Jazz Dock.

Grammy-winning producer and musician Ondrej Pivec is coming back to his homeland after years overseas with the project""Greatest Hits 4000." It blends elements of genres like jazz, funk, gospel, hip-hop, and soul in the tradition of American music with a fresh twist. Accompanying the Czech jazz icon on the album are talented musicians - Jan Steinsdörfer, the keyboardist of the Czech music group Chinaski, Jan Jakubec, a bassist whose resume includes names like Lenka Dusilová and Raduza, and Filip Ernst, the drummer of Top Dream Company and DYK band. The album is based on Pivec's live performance at JazzFestBrno in the studios of Czech Television.

Often lauded as one of the leading figures of the Czech jazz scene, David Doružka has been active as a professional musician from the age of 14, having played concerts all over the world, collaborated with many of today’s leading musicians, and having spent extensive periods in the cities of New York and Paris. After recent collaborations with jazz icons Lizz Wright, Jeff Ballard or Hilmar Jensson, Doružka teamed up with flutist Robert Fischmann and drummer Martin Novák to explore a sound which is less jazz-centered and more world-oriented. The core of this unusually sounding ensemble is the legacy of Jewish music with its many facets that have evolved on various continents over the centuries.

However the trio takes great liberties in incorporating all of these elements and so it easily happens that traditional Chassidic chants are followed by metalcore passages and melodies from Medieval Spain are heard next to sounds inspired by the contemporary New York downtown scene. Their present debut album is entitled Gilgul, meaning "cycle" in Hebrew. Jewish music is nothing new to members of the band as they have previously collaborated with Israeli musician Yair Dalal and American multi-instrumentalist Alan Bern among others and Doružka’s earlier CD Autumn Tales (2016, Animal Music) awarded the Czech Music Academy Angel Award for the best jazz album of the year bears influences of both Ashkenazi and Middle-Eastern music.

On her new album; trumpetist and composer Štepánka Balcarová; the recipient of the Andel Award for the best jazz album of 2022; delves deep into human emotions. She quotes her recent experience of becoming a mother as her main source of inspiration: “Certain emotions receive a totally new dimension with motherhood. I used to think I knew what it meant to be angry or indignant; for example; and was able to rationalize such emotions; draw relevant consequences and thus come to term with them. With children; however; one often finds oneself in situations that don’t allow for such distancing. This immediacy affects both negative and positive emotions. I’ve come to see them in an entirely new light.” In the eight compositions comprised in her new album; Štepánka represents eight basic human emotions; as they have been defined by American psychologist Robert Plutchik: joy; trust; fear; surprise; sadness; disgust; anger and anticipation. A concert programme based on the concept of Emotions was premiered in 2022. Štepánka Balcarová recorded the album with a Czech-Polish quartet featuring Nikola Kolodziejczyk (piano); Jaromír Honzák (double bass) and Grzegorz Maslowski (drums). The same line-up also collaborated with her on the album Life and Hapiness of Julian Tuwim (Animal Music 2017) and the live album Štestí (Happiness; Radioservis 2022) which includes orchestral versions of the repertoire for which Štepánka Balcarová received the Andel Award.

The Jungle Book is a studio recording of music by Marko Ivanovic, created for a theatrical music-and-dance project on which the composer and conductor collaborated with the Forman Brothers’ Theatre, Dekkadancers, the Czech Philharmonic, and Jatka78 Theatre. The world premiere of the project, based on Rudyard Kipling’s eponymous novel took place in Azyl78 in Prague in June 2022 and was followed by nearly two dozen performances in the following month, all completely sold out.

On this new album, Ivanovic has been joined by an orchestra composed of members of the Czech Philharmonic. Its release marks this year’s block of performances of The Jungle Book which will take place between 28 May and 18 June 2023, again on the scene of Azyl78. Marko Ivanovic has not only authored the music but has also co-authored the script and conducts the fifteen member orchestra during the performances. The Jungle Book is, in his words, his first attempt at a form in which music and dance, rather than words, narrate the story and carry its meaning. He adds: “For me, as a former boy scout, Kipling's book and its message and atmosphere have always held a strong appeal. And the opportunity to try and emulate in music the world of wild and seemingly chaotic nature, where a deep, unchanging order reigns has been a wonderfully inspiring experience.”

Marko Ivanovic is currently the chief conductor of the Janácek Theatre in Brno. He is also a dedicatedpromoter of contemporary music and has contributed to many first Czech performances of major foreign works. Together with Petr Kadlec, he has established a series of educational programmes ofclassical and contemporary music for young audiences. His previous successful collaborations with Forman Brothers’ Theatre include music for the opera “Carokraj” (2012) and his instrumentation of the score of Jirí Suchý and Jirí Šlitr’s jazz opera “Dobre placená procházka” for a new production at the National Theatre in Prague in 2007 (directed by Miloš and Petr Forman).el deployment of live electronics.

Water Lost And Returned is an original soundtrack from the documentary film by Radek Plihal about the restoration of the unique landscape of Sumava wetlands and mires. Film is a visual and sonic meditation on the beauty of the Southern Bohemia nature (Sumava National Park), it observes the fascinating return of water into the landscape and contains a number of breathtaking shots of wild animals and places that are not usually accessible. The music was composed in collaboration of the singer and multiple Czech Music Academy Award (Angel award) holder Lenka Dusilova and composer Petr Ostrouchov who also produced Lenka Dusilova’s last album Reka (River, 2020) awarded with three Angels and is author of film and TV scores (collaborating with Ondrej Trojan, Jan Hrebejk or Viktor Tauš among others), nominated for the Czech Lion award eight times. Together, they acoompanied the film with a single continuous flow of ambient music and sounds that tell the story of water lost and found again. The soundtrack is now being released in its original uninterrupted form, both on CD and as digital download.

Recently discovered and to date unreleased recordings represent the last major project of Musica Antiqua Praha, which was during the fifteen years of its existence (1982–1997) the most eminent Czech early music ensemble focused above all on the performance of early and middle Baroque music. The album comprises compositions that were part of the archives of the Prague Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, recorded by Musica Antiqua in 1996 in a world premiere. The Order’s heritage includes more than three centuries of musical tradition, documented by a rarely preserved music archive. The album features music by four composers from the 17th and 18th century. Pavel Klikar, the founder and artistic director of Musica Antiqua Praha, is the major figure inextricably associated with the ensemble, whose inspirational leadership helped to create an important seedbed which brought forth a whole generation of early music performers. From among these recruited the founders and members of the new ensembles that originated in the Czech Republic during the 1990s, as well as number of foremost Czech vocalists, among them Anna Hlavenková, Irena Troupová, Magdalena Kožená and Michael Pospíšil. From the late 1980s, Musica Antiqua Praha was recognized as one of the top European ensembles specializing in historically-informed interpretation. It was recognized for its exceptionally broad repertoire and conceptual programmes, specific performance style and astonishing spiritual intensity. The ensemble was a regular guest at many prestigious festivals abroad (the UK, Belgium, Germany, France and Spain), where it met with great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Musica Antiqua Praha released five albums during the 1990s. The release of this album thus symbolically reconfirms the lasting influence of this exceptional music ensemble that laid the basis of authentic interpretation of early music in modern Czechia.