Classical Music

The tracks on this new release are acoustic works inspired by folk and jazz roots. The three exceptional musicians featured on this release are bassist Tomas Liska, banjoist Lubos Malina, and pianist Michal Nejtek. The ten tracks on this release are all original compositions by the aforementioned musicians.

Classical Music

The world renowned French horn player Radek Babor�k has chosen for his new album "Orquestrina" compositions inspired by dance in it's various forms; alongside compositions by famous authors as Astor Piazzolla (Histoire du tango), Gabriel Faur� (Pavana) or Maurice Ravel (Bol�ro) the album also contains works less known, including Lev Kogan�s dances and songs rooted in Jewish music, Corrado Saglietti�s suite for horn and a string quartet and three small pieces for solo horn. The fifteen member ensemble is made of great soloists and chamber music players. Many of the compositions are presented here for the first time in newly created arrangements. The album is full of energy and masterful performances and undoubtedly it shall become an event of the year, not only within Czech music scene.

The album "Bercheros Odyssey" by bassist and composer Tomas Liska contains his composition of the same name, consisting of six parts, influenced by jazz, minimalism and classical music and created for the purpose of finishing Liska�s studies at Jazz Institute in Berlin. The Pente ensemble therefore consists mainly of German artists who had performed the composition together with it's creator in the world premiere.

As in the case on their previous album, Metamorphosis, Vertigo‘s fourth studio recording, “Taj”, is equally compact and conceptual, with the track setup reminiscent of a monolithic nine-movement composition of varying moods. In terms of composition and performance, the Vertigo members are entirely non-traditional, again shifting both the form and content of their musical expression somewhat forward, equally unpredictably, originally and authentically as they have done on previous occasions. Vertigo’s new album seeks to confirm their position as visionaries of the Czech jazz scene.

This time as solo pianist, NajPonk's latest release, A Child Is Born, offers a further collection of recordings rooted mostly in jazz traditions. Next to jazz classics (Porter, Monk) lay contemporary music (Pat Metheny), instrumental versions of pop music (Beatles), bossa nova (Tom Jobim) and more. NajPonk comes straight from classic jazz roots - swinging rhythm and blues. His virtuosic, refined and individual reinterpretations of jazz and other music genre classics, without unnecessary avant-garde experimentation, lay claim to poetic and musically expressive territory.

The album of the reunited legendary Organic Quartet, led by Hammond organist and Grammy winner Ondrej Pivec, who currently resides in New York (playing with Gregory Porter and Gregoire Maret, among others) is released precisely ten years after the band´s previous album titled “Never Enough“ (2007), the release of which was an impetus to Animal Music label foundation. The Album contains new fresh material penned by the band members, was recorded to tape using solely analog equipment, without any use of digital effects, computers or editing. The album is released on CD, vinyl (with large booklet containing the sheet music) and digitally. The band members, who concurrently lead their own projects and release their own solo albums, have matured into remarkable personalities without losing anything from their youthful enthusiasm and energy.

This new release titled "Materština” (“Mother Tongue”) presents the great double bassist and composer Jiri Slavik in a role of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist searching for his own cultural roots, originally using legacy of folk music in his own contemporary compositions and returning to his childhood, when the door to the world of music was opened for him by his father. Slavik, who studied to play the double bass from the perspective of classical music as well as jazz and is a virtuoso on the instrument in the best sense of the word, also plays the violin, viola, cello, piano, cimbalom and clarinet on the album, and in this wild "one-man cimbalom band" he is joined by wooden flute player, a childhood friend and, among other, also an expert on the local folk music, Marian Friedl.

Eviyan is a new acoustic trio ensemble co-founded by famous Czech singer, violinist and current US resident Iva Bittová, guitarist and composer Gyan Riley (son of Terry Riley), and bass-clarinetist, composer and producer Evan Ziporyn, who co-founded Bang On a Can ensemble and has collaborated with many notable artists. Nayive, the trio’s first studio album, comprises the members’ acoustic compositions and improvisations. The pieces are sophisticated yet very fresh, rooted in the folk as well as minimalistic and classical traditions, with the natural sounds painting a very colorful image.

Uncertainty is bassist Jarom�r Honz�k's first album in five years made entirely of his own compositions, this time strongly emphasizing melody and counterpoint. The album's line-up consists of Czech artists who've worked with Honz�k previously as well as non-Czech nationals recording with him for he first time. Mr. Honz�k's first taste of wider success came in 1986 when his group Naima was selected to the final pan-European jazz competitions in Leverkusen, Germany. Mr. Honz�k has appeared at the Montreal Int'l Jazz Festival and Jazz Jamboree Warsaw, among other global jazz festivals.

Concept Art Orchestra is an occasionally performing Czech big band comprised of first class Czech jazz musicians, led and conducted by trumpetist/composer Štepánka Balcarová. Their album, The Prague Six, contains six first-time recordings of contemporary compositions by the young Czech composers who formed the group of the same name, the majority of them also ranking among the band’s members. Large original compositions lie at the border of jazz and classical music, using all expressive possibilities and orchestral interplay, as well as the improvisational skills of its individual members.

The phenomenal French-horn player Radek Baborak comes with a new album (his second on Animal Music) featuring music by the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, in arrangements that were tailor-made for his eleven-member ensemble which unites foremost Czech and international players. Piazzolla's music - which listeners all over the world know as a one of the purest expressions of "tango nuevo"- does not feature French horn. Radek Baborak, however, continues on his pioneering mission of an arranger and a performer of Piazzolla's work in atypical line-ups. The role of the bandoneon - traditionally the carrier of the Argentine-tango sound - is here taken over by the French horn, the bass clarinet, violin and piano. Baborak thus succeeds in reaching his desired aim, which is not to sound as one of the many "revival bands" of Piazzolla's own legendary quintet. Instead, the arrangements let the music itself stand out and they highlight the masterful invention of Piazzolla who was able to combine in his compositions great expressivity and exulted passion with melancholy and humbleness. All those qualities remain at the heart of the interpretation by Radek Baborak Orquestrina while they are taken to a whole new level in this recording based on perfect harmony and vigorous interpretation.

Marcel Barta, Dorota Barova, Oskar T�r�k, Vojtech Prochazka, Rastislav Uhr�k and Daniel �oltis are distinct musical personalities who have been coming together for more than fifteen years in the original formation Vertigo to create music of perfect harmony; music that knows no boundaries and that keeps exploring new directions and compositional as well as interpretational possibilities. Their fifth studio album on Animal Music, for which almost all the members of the band have provided their own authored music, is yet another proof of their originality and also an invitation to us to join them on a playful journey discovering far off horizons.

Six years after the purely acoustic album Morning Walks, composer and pianist Martin Brunner releases his new recording, Levels of Life. It is defined by a markedly rock sound and besides the classical piano it also features the polyphonic analogue synthesizer Prophet 6. Brunner's musical partners here are his colleagues from the so-called Martin Brunner Band: Tomas Fuchs on the guitar, Rastislav Uhrik on the bass and Roman Vicha on the drums. All three are musicians who easily cross the boundaries between musical genres; as players equipped with jazz erudition and wealth of experience, they return here to the music of their youth, yet with the necessary sense of detachment. Writing the compositions gathered on the album, Brunner worked much more sparingly than in his previous projects, allowing more space for the creativity of his colleagues whose abundant experience in rock and pop music is an important feature of the recording. The result is naturally flowing music and sound that shows esteem for classical rock and fusions with jazz, funk and disco, without losing any of it's authenticity and progressiveness. The "return to the music of one's youth", which is a mantra for all the musicians involved, endows the album with a refreshing effortlessness and directness.