{"title":"Czech Philharmonic Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003eorchestra.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of Central Europe's most storied orchestras, founded 1896; closely associated with Dvořák and Czech repertoire; strong Supraphon legacy recordings under conductors like Karel Ančerl.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"ma-vlast-live-recording-54094","title":"Ma Vlast (Live Recording)","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44626429608170,"sku":"099925120825","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1922393.jpg?v=1778316816"},{"product_id":"dvorak-slavonic-dances-146217","title":"Dvorak: Slavonic Dances","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44625462526186,"sku":"099925191627","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1535397.jpg?v=1778338491"},{"product_id":"smetana-my-country-98688","title":"Smetana: My Country","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44624882565354,"sku":"099925195823","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1785087.jpg?v=1778325143"},{"product_id":"violin-concertos-rhapsody-con","title":"VIOLIN CONCERTOS, RHAPSODY-CON","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44722748915946,"sku":"099925196929","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1922209.jpg?v=1778316643"},{"product_id":"symphony-no-9-in-e-minor-op-1","title":"SYMPHONY NO. 9 IN E MINOR, OP.","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44722866651370,"sku":"099925196127","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1782987.jpg?v=1778325225"},{"product_id":"pablo-casals-the-complete-hmv-recordings-1926-1955","title":"Pablo Casals - The Complete HMV Recordings 1926-1955","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Catalan cellist Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was first to bring to wider notice the works that open this set, J.S. Bach's solo cello suites. Thereafter we hear his celebrated partnership with Horszowski in Beethoven and the groundbreaking piano trio formed with Thibaud and Cortot in Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. From the symphonic repertoire come the concertos by Dvořák (with George Szell) and Elgar (Adrian Boult). Finally, an enchanting disc of encores and - with Casals's own street-band or cobla - seven examples of the sardana, the national dance of the great artist's beloved homeland.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WARNER CLASSICS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":45862030934250,"sku":"5054197522413","price":29.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4223974-2988426_d2eab669-7849-4818-aab5-d8a4fbf4c12c.jpg?v=1778371182"},{"product_id":"karel-ancerl-live-recordings","title":"Karel Ančerl: Live Recordings \/ Czech Philharmonic Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePreviously unreleased recordings by one of the great conductors of the 20th century.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKarel Ančerl. One of the most important conductors of post-war Europe. A man who survived the Nazi concentration camps and the avowed anti-Semitism of communist Czechoslovakia. An artist who, through enormous patience and dedication, built the Czech Philharmonic into a world-class orchestra and introduced it successfully at the most important concert halls.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom 2002 to 2008, Supraphon issued the highly acclaimed Ančerl Gold Edition with the bulk of his artistic legacy, containing nearly his complete studio recordings with the Czech Philharmonic on 48 albums. But that was far from everything. Hidden in the archive of Czech Radio, there is a wealth of concert recordings that gives us a more complete picture of this conductor. From that treasury, on 15 albums, Supraphon has selected repertoire of which studio recordings were not made; that repertoire covers a broad range from Mozart to works by Ančerl’s contemporaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe recordings include masterpieces by \u003cstrong\u003eDvořák\u003c\/strong\u003e (Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8, Biblical Songs) and \u003cstrong\u003eSuk\u003c\/strong\u003e (Asrael, Ripening), music by composers admired and promoted by Ančerl (\u003cstrong\u003eMartinu\u003c\/strong\u003e Symphony No. 1 and \u003cstrong\u003eKabelác\u003c\/strong\u003e Symphony No. 5), and major works of the worldwide 20th-century repertoire (\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eRavel\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eStrauss\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eProkofiev\u003c\/strong\u003e, etc.). The only exception of a “duplication” of a studio recording is \u003cstrong\u003eSmetana\u003c\/strong\u003e’s Má vlast. This taping of a Prague Spring Festival concert in May 1968 was one of the last recordings Ančerl made before his definitive departure for Toronto. The concert recordings from the years 1949-1968 document the maturing of this remarkable artist perhaps even more clearly than his studio legacy. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"text-col-1\" class=\"col-sm-6\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePerformances appearing on CD for the first time include, most notably, Josef Suk’s epic Asrael symphony (1967), a recording that captures the full emotional range of what’s surely the greatest Czech symphony after Dvo∑ák. Most impressive is the impact of Suk’s vivid orchestration, the timpani and bass drum especially, and the way An∂erl charts the work’s dramatic sequence of events, its emotional extremes and tragic demeanor. Never before have I felt the ‘angel of death’ transform into the ‘angel of love’ at the end of the work as it does here. Even the memorable Václav Talich (also on Supraphon) doesn’t quite match up. The mono sound is exceptionally clear but Suk’s The Ripening, another fine performance, is offered in stereo, as is Smetana’s Má vlast (both 1968), where the vengeful third piece, about the fearsome amazon Šárka, is driven to paroxysms of rage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"text-col-2\" class=\"col-sm-6\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the most absorbing inclusion conceptually is Ervín Schulhoff’s musical setting of portions from the Communist Manifesto. Beyond his miraculous survival of Auschwitz (where his family was murdered), An∂erl joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Schulhoff had sent the only copy of his full score to the Leningrad Conservatory for safe keeping, but it was believed lost during the long siege of the city and the version that An∂erl conducts here (in 1962) is an orchestration by Svatopluk Havelka. Schulhoff had become convinced by the ideas coming out of the Soviet Union after working in Berlin in the 1920s and ’30s and was on the run from the Nazis in the later years of the 1930s, but was captured in 1941 and died in Wülzburg concentration camp in 1942 of tuberculosis. Whatever one’s political leanings (even in view of the subsequent Soviet invasion of An∂erl’s homeland, not to mention Ukraine at the present time), one can understand why he connected so deeply with fascism’s nemesis. The work itself resembles, on the one hand, the politically charged choral pieces of Prokofiev and Shostakovich, while on the other recalls the world of Mahler (try disc 15 track 6 from 7'25\", where you can hear clear echoes of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is an extremely important set, very well transferred, superbly annotated (by Petr Kadlec) and sturdily presented. I can’t recommend it more highly than that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- Gramophone (Rob Cowan)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012609495274,"sku":"099925430825","price":112.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4041860-2787673.jpg?v=1778241106"},{"product_id":"mahler-symphony-no-5-semyon-bychkov-czech-philharmonic","title":"Mahler: Symphony No. 5 \/ Bychkov, Czech Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMusical America has just announced its awarding of Conductor of the Year to Semyon Bychkov.\u003c\/strong\u003e To learn more, click \u003ca title=\"Semyon Bychkov, Conductor of the Year\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/features\/index.cfm?fid=362\u0026amp;fyear=2023\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-----\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter their critically-acclaimed recording of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov continue their Pentatone Mahler cycle with a rendition of the composer’s Fifth. The Fifth Symphony marks an important turning point in Mahler’s symphonic output, away from the prominence of vocal movements in his previous symphonies. And whereas the Fifth seems to follow a teleology from darkness to light like its predecessors, the trajectory is much less straightforward, and full of enigmatic turns. Bychkov’s exceptional eye for detail and pacing make him an ideal guide through this work, while the Czech Philharmonic is capable of letting all the colors of Mahler’s score shine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Czech Philharmonic is one of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras, with a rich tradition of performing Czech masters and music from Central Europe. Semyon Bychkov has led the greatest orchestras of the world, and is Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic as of the 2018\/2019 season. Orchestra and maestro made their Pentatone debut with a recording of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony (2022), kicking off a complete Mahler cycle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBychkov is careful to keep the strings’ lyric funeral-marches objective, and it’s fascinating how the Adagietto sounds otherworldly until the cellos bring in a richly portamentoed human warmth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pace generally keeps things on the move – crucial in what I think of as Mahler’s trickiest movement, the ‘stormy, vehement’ sequel to the opening ritual, paced to perfection – though there are a couple of unmarked slackenings in the outer movements. Only here does Bychkov seem to me to fall briefly victim to seeing ‘nicht eilen’ (don’t hasten) and ‘unmerklich etwas einhaltend’ (imperceptibly somewhat holding back) either side of the last big build and slamming on the brakes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’d have liked a bit more wildness in the central Scherzo, though the end is uproarious, and from the opening trumpet solo through the lopsided horn obbligato at the dancing heart of the work to the reassertion of the chorale at the end, the brass both individually and collectively play their parts in underlining that this is still very much one of the world’s great orchestras. In all there’s clarity and beauty of tone. The luminous recording captures both high and low frequencies with exceptional vividness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- BBC Music Magazine\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell18_12_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\" class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003eBychkov’s version opens up a very different way of seeing this virtually ubiquitous symphony and he delivers on that vision with great panache and total commitment from all involved. Bychkov has emerged in the last few years as an unmissable conductor and the thought of what he might do with the Sixth symphony after hearing this Fifth has me tingling with anticipation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- MusicWeb International (David McDade)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PENTATONE","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012706816234,"sku":"8717306260213","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4129443-2887400.jpg?v=1778207211"},{"product_id":"blackford-niobe-waley-cohen-gernon-czech-philharmonic-260995","title":"Blackford: Niobe \/ Waley-Cohen, Gernon, Czech Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eRenowned British composer Richard Blackford sets the Greek fable of Niobe to music in the premiere recording of his new violin concerto, performed by Tamsin Waley-Cohen with the Czech Philharmonic under conductor Ben Gernon. In the myth Niobe, who has seven daughters and seven sons, mocks Leto, goddess of motherhood yet mother of only two children, Apollo and Artemis. In revenge, Apollo murders Niobe’s sons, while Artemis kills her daughters and her husband, Amphion, king of Thebes, commits suicide. Niobe in grief turns to Zeus for help, who takes pity and turns Niobe to stone; she continues to weep, however, for eternity, her tears flowing as a stream from the rock. Comments Waley-Cohen, \"The Greeks saw Niobe as a warning against hubris, but what happened to her can also be interpreted today as a tale about the overly severe punishment of women judged to have stepped out of line. Her punishment seems so brutal, as does the punishment that many women face today around the world. Richard’s concerto is an incredibly powerful piece and a story that is so relevant to women’s issues today.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Signum Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012907127018,"sku":"635212053928","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3795510.jpg?v=1778382531"},{"product_id":"vaclav-talich-conducts-dvorak-suk","title":"Vaclav Talich conducts Dvořák \u0026 Suk","description":"In 1935 Talich brought the Czech P.O to London, where he made legendary Dvor�k recordings including this Eighth Symphony - in which he felt truly in touch with the composer. Stanislav Nov�k's violin solos are exquisite, the pacing of the traditionally shaped performance is flawless and the strings sliding up and down in the Scherzo are irresistible. In 1938, just after the Munich betrayal, conductor and orchestra were back at Abbey Road to record supple accounts of Dvor�k's Sixth and Seventh symphonies and, (here..) their loveliest Talich recording, Suk's Serenade for Strings. Here everything is dewy-fresh and transparent, the solo playing (Alexander Plocek) is light as gossamer (Suk wrote the passage for solo strings at the end of the Adagio specially for Talich).\" [Gramophone Awards 2005]","brand":"PARNASSUS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013154820330,"sku":"5055354409127","price":12.93,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4208735-2973428.jpg?v=1778371330"},{"product_id":"smetana-ma-vlast-55945","title":"Smetana: Ma Vlast","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013306339562,"sku":"099925366124","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1535706.jpg?v=1778337852"},{"product_id":"smetana-libuse-talich-czech-philharmonic-293638","title":"Smetana: Libuse \/ Talich, Czech Philharmonic","description":"The recording of the concert performance in Nazi-occupied Prague of Bedrich Smetana’s My Country (SU 4065-2) conducted by Václav Talich, which took place on 5 July 1939, drew considerable attention worldwide (Special Historic Gramophone Award 2012). It seemed that Talich’s discography had thus been rounded off for good. Yet the personal effects of the late soprano Marie Podvalová, renowned for her outstanding portrayal of Princess Libuše, provided yet another gem. A week prior to the mentioned performance of My Country, on 29 May 1939 a recording was made at the National Theatre of Talich’s account of Smetana’s opera Libuše. Fragments of Act 3 have been reconstructed from the miraculously surviving foils (the present album also contains the 1940 recording of the Overture). In 1939, Libuše’s prophecy in Act 3 of Smetana’s opera must have sounded to Czech ears like an immensely bold declaration of national pride and courage. Although incomplete and far from being perfect in terms of the quality of sound, the recording’s value is truly immense. It is the one and only recording of an opera conducted by Talich, the oldest surviving transmission of an opera performance from the National Theatre in Prague, and the last staging of Libuše during the Nazi occupation before its performances were strictly banned. The audience’s long tumultuous applause and spontaneous singing of the national anthem attest to the moment’s enormous emotional gravity, imbuing the recording with exceptional energy. Talich’s unique account of Libuše – a bold manifestation of national pride and bravery in 1939 in Nazi-occupied Prague","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013353459946,"sku":"099925427924","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3814004-2570081.jpg?v=1778256711"},{"product_id":"prague-classics-musical-souvenir-from-prague","title":"Prague Classics - Musical Souvenir from Prague","description":"After more than eighty years, Supraphon has revived it's historical sublabel bearing the name of ARTONA and released it's first title: PRAGUE CLASSICS - a musical souvenir from Prague. Originally, ARTONA was a sublabel of the ULTRAPHON gramophone company, predecessor of today's SUPRAPHON publishing house. For the first time this label appeared in the spring of 1932 bearing the supplementary characteristics of \"local product\". The main reason for establishing the side label was Ultraphon's effort to come up with recordings that might appeal to the general public both by their contents and price. Supraphon now re-introduces this sublabel with the aim of publishing compilations that will please the lovers of the most famous and popular melodies offered by classical music. On the present release, A Musical Souvenir from Prague, experience the magic atmosphere of Prague through the works of classical music written by composers who were in one way or other connected with Prague. We offer you here a musical walkthrough with Anton�n Dvor�k, Bedrich Smetana, Leo� Jan�cek, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gustav Mahler as well as leading Czech orchestras and ensembles. Quite rightly, Prague is considered to be one of most beautiful European cities. It's monuments including the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, the astronomical clock of the Old Town City Hall or the Old Jewish Cemetery make the \"golden city\" one of the most frequently visited tourist destinations in Europe. Prague's unique charm also attracts artists from all over the world and it's \"genius loci\" has inspired a number of composers both locally and internationally. Allow the city and it's music to charm you too!","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013380493546,"sku":"099925424923","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3809399.jpg?v=1778258222"},{"product_id":"in-love-with-chopin-halina-czerny-stefanska-293454","title":"In Love with Chopin \/ Halina Czerny-Stefanska","description":"Halina Czerny-Stefánska, who was born in Kraków in 1922 and died there in 2001, achieved international fame as an interpreter of Chopin. On the 150th anniversary of the Polish composer's birth, the state-owned record company Polskie Nagrania produced a comprehensive collection of his works, featuring a number of her exemplary recordings, which form a major part of this set. One incident makes particularly clear what high esteem Chopin interpreter Czerny-Stefánska had achieved in the world of music: Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 was released in the West as an LP featuring the brilliant, short-lived pianist Dinu Lipatti. Fifteen years passed before it transpired that the artist on this recording was not Lipatti, but Czerny-Stefánska, with the conductor Václav Smetácek. The mistake was admitted and corrected.","brand":"Profil","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013427187946,"sku":"881488200171","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3813994-2570130.jpg?v=1778248187"},{"product_id":"stabat-mater-serenade-for-str-5028421940816","title":"Dvorak: Stabat Mater; Serenade for Strings","description":"STABAT MATER  SERENADE FOR STR","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013446324458,"sku":"5028421940816","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1867193.jpg?v=1778224426"},{"product_id":"ancerl-gold-edition-24-janacek-sinfonietta-martinu-262562","title":"Ancerl Gold Edition 24 - Janacek: Sinfonietta; Martinu: Frescoes","description":"\u003cimg src=\"\/graphics\/p10s10.gif\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Karel Ancerl's incomparable recording of Janácek's resplendently barbaric Sinfonietta remains not only the finest available version of the work, but also is the best recorded, particularly in this incredibly vivid new transfer. Although it was captured as long ago as 1961, no other version so effectively conveys the panoramic splendor of the trumpet-led opening across the stereo spectrum, no other offers such clarity in passages such as the finale's hair-raising wind writing, and no other balances the orchestra against the massed brass of the closing pages so naturally and cleanly. Technically it's quite an achievement, and Martinu's Parables sound equally fine--only The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca show their age in comparison, though the sound is still quite good.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  As to the performances--well, what is there to say? They are simply the last word in excitement, accuracy, passion, color, and expressive immediacy. The Sinfonietta erupts form the speakers like a primal force. 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? Much as I love this work, and enjoy other performances (including Kubelik, Neumann, Jilek, and Mackerras), this is one of those rare occasions where you really can point your finger to a single version and say, \"This is  \u003ci\u003ethe\u003c\/i\u003e best.\"\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The same holds true for the two Martinu works, though of course they have been less frequently recorded and so comparisons are less thick on the field. As noted above, the sound in The Parables, one of Martinu's late masterpieces that easily could pass for one of his symphonies, is no less splendid than the Janácek, and the work itself is a shimmering, sensuous delight. The opening of the third movement, with its buzzing strings and flecks of xylophone, is quite unforgettable. Ancerl conducts both this piece and The Frescoes (dedicated to Kubelik, who recorded the work for EMI) with the same authority as the Janácek, and although all three of these performances have been kicking around in various couplings for some time, the sonic improvement certainly warrants acquiring this new edition. The playing will simply have you sitting on the edge of your seat. Stunning!\u003cbr\u003e  --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46024135540970,"sku":"099925368425","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1241397.jpg?v=1778338799"},{"product_id":"old-czech-marches-196592","title":"Old Czech Marches \/ Czech Philharmonia Orchestra","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46024136098026,"sku":"099925355722","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1535395_a6d99d4d-0ed6-4b51-ab0f-e7cf8fb3d86e.jpg?v=1778328556"},{"product_id":"martinu-juliette-3-fragments-kozena-davislim-mackerras-148488","title":"Martinu: Juliette (3 Fragments) \/ Kozena, Davislim, Mackerras, Czech PO","description":"Live recording from the work’s world premieres on 11 and 12 December 2008.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e This is not the first case of a premiere performance of a work by Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) decades after his death. On 11 December 2008 the sold-out Rudolfinum in Prague heard for the first time a work which ranks among Martinu’s most significant and which the composer himself highly esteemed. Martinu originally composed the opera Juliette in Czech. However, so as to ensure appropriate publicity for the work, he wanted – already armed with a French libretto – to place extracts from the most relevant scenes on French radio. Yet Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette (The Key to Dreams) was not broadcast on the radio and had to wait some 70 years for its first performance. This was entrusted to the safe hands of that most competent of conductors Sir Charles Mackerras, who has devoted a great part of his life to discovering Czech music and promoting it on world stages. Thanks to Martinu’s dreamily beautiful music and the remarkable engagement of all the interpreters, the conductor’s December leave-taking of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was transformed into a joint triumph. After experiencing Magdalena Kožená in the role of Juliette, it is hard to imagine another star singer in her place. The Australian tenor Steve Davislim, who performed in the role of Michel, was a splendid partner to Magdalena Kožená in the lyrical and dramatic position. On this CD, Three Fragments is supplemented by the orchestral suite from the same opera, which sensitively treats the music of all three Acts and corresponds with the “dreamy logic” of the original.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e REVIEWS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"I don’t think I’ve ever heard a performance of any part of this score that captures its sheer beauty and fantasy so well.\" -- International Record Review, June 2009\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"Mackerras directs a wonderful performance and while Kožená sings the title-role beautifully she is in excellent company. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra play superbly throughout, not least in the sensible coupling of Zbyn?k Vost?ák’s expert arrangement of three of Julietta’s orchestral episodes. I cannot recommend this scintillating disc highly enough.\"-- Gramophone, June 2009\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"Magdalena Kožená is magnificent as the volatile Julietta and is excellently matched by Steve Davislim’s Michel. Davislim is also terrific in the opera’s almost unbearably poignant finale. Along with three orchestral excerpts, including the opera’s prelude, these fragments provide a fitting tribute to Mackerras’s profound understanding of Martin?’s musical character.\" -- BBC Music Magazine, June 2009\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"The sure hand of Charles Mackerras, a master of exceptionally high calling, succeeds in drawing out all the wealth of the score, letting the music shine with its most beautiful colors as he wields a world-class ensemble, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. The bright, at times seemingly transparent mezzosoprano of Magdalena Kožená proves to be ideal for the role of Julietta, a girl losing her memory, a being from another world, sensuous and yet ungraspable. Davislim proves to be an ideal partner for her.\"-- Das Opernglas, June 2009\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"Sir Charles Mackerras can scarcely be equalled for the way he lives this music, for the way it breathes and blooms under his direction. Thanks to the crystal-clear luminosity of the Czech Philharmonic’s finely detailed sound and the extraordinarily sensitive performances of world-class singers Magdalena Kožená and Steve Davislim, Mackerras has succeeded in fully revealing the suggestive quality of the music, carrying listeners away to a world of dreamlike surrealism. In the hands of Mackerras, a Martin? expert, the score becomes a magical tome.\" -- Fono Forum, July 2009\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46024136130794,"sku":"099925399429","price":42.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1529060.jpg?v=1778323670"},{"product_id":"concertos-for-piano-and-cello","title":"CONCERTOS FOR PIANO AND CELLO","description":"2 CD's + 2 Bonus Media Videos.","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46024136589546,"sku":"099925377427","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/349653.jpg?v=1778343475"},{"product_id":"wolfgang-sawallisch-in-prague","title":"Wolfgang Sawallisch in Prague","description":"This compilation presents a selection of the recordings that were the fruit of the cooperation between the conductor and the orchestra. Sawallisch's programs in Prague repeatedly included pieces by Mozart and Beethoven, as well as major works by Czech composers (Smetana, Janacek, Martinu, Kalabis, Eben, etc.). Sawallisch's relationship to Czech music is probably best described by the following quotation from a contemporary review: 'He apprehends and interprets music by Czech composers as though he himself had been brought up in their language.' the precious Czech Radio live recordings are released by Supraphon for the very first time to mark the 90th anniversary of the late conductor's birth.","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46024136687850,"sku":"099925414023","price":66.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2287678.jpg?v=1778289338"},{"product_id":"ancerl-gold-edition-28-novak-in-the-tatra-mountains-slav","title":"Ancerl Gold Edition 28: Novák: In the Tatra Mountains - Slav","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46024138916074,"sku":"099925368821","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1241401.jpg?v=1778338664"},{"product_id":"fibich-symphonies-nos-1-3-complete-at-twilight-the-ro","title":"Fibich: Symphonies Nos. 1-3 - complete, At Twilight , The Ro","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46024138948842,"sku":"099925361822","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1241165.jpg?v=1778338651"},{"product_id":"great-czech-conductors-rafael-kubelik-262629","title":"Great Czech Conductors - Rafael Kubelik","description":"\u003cb\u003eA superb collection of very early Kubelik recordings, including numerous world premieres.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003eThis is an excellent collection honoring Rafael Kubelík. The two jam-packed CDs of live 1940s broadcasts include his central repertoire, works he championed very early on, and indeed multiple world-premiere recordings. Not least is the first-ever recording of Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony, a live concert dating from December 1946; we also get a live reading of Dvorak’s Piano Concerto with Rudolf Firkusny, from the first-ever Prague Spring festival, and, although the booklet doesn’t identify the premiere recordings, I’d be surprised if any earlier performances of the Martin? Fourth Symphony or \u003ci\u003eMemorial to Lidice\u003c\/i\u003e, or Dobiás’ \u003ci\u003eStalingrad Cantata\u003c\/i\u003e, exist. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e The collection begins with Dvorak’s Eighth, in quite constricted sound - turn up the volume more than normal - but glittering with the kind of brilliance Kubelík brought to the piece for his entire career. Aside from a prominent trumpet flub in the finale, it’s a highly accomplished live reading by the Czech Philharmonic, revealing they and the conductor were masters of the symphony even in the besieged year of 1944. The piano concerto, in sound which suggests that the orchestra is playing somewhere very far away, nevertheless powers forward with energy and vigor. Firkusny plays the old “revised” piano part, with the absolute command which explains why he has long been associated with this piece. Luckily for us, the recording of his piano is much better than we’d expect from the murky-sounding orchestra. Firkusny’s cadenza is especially fine, although more recent interpreters - Aimard with Harnoncourt, say - are more to my liking in the poetic slow movement with its beautiful opening horn solo. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e Shostakovich’s Ninth - the first recording of the work - is given a performance unlike any since. The outer movements are remarkably speedy affairs, with some live sloppiness but a lot of spirit and neoclassical sharpness; by contrast the second movement sprawls over ten minutes, the slowest I’ve ever heard it. Compare 10:33 to Vasily Petrenko’s 8:46, Leonard Bernstein’s 8:10, or indeed Rudolf Barshai’s 5:43. The scherzo is rather languid, too. All in all a fascinating account of how different it is from the way the symphony is performed today, and it’s worth overlooking the constant audience noise. What may cause distress is the fact that distortion in the tape results in the entire symphony sounding like it is being performed in E rather than E flat! \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e Bohuslav Martin?’s Fourth, a celebratory masterpiece inflected with joy, energy, and inner peace, receives a great performance here (1948). It’s hard to imagine a more thrilling scherzo than Kubelík’s, whirling forward in a great rush of excitement, but by contrast he really milks the gorgeous romanticism of the slow movement, unafraid to play up the different moods - doubt at the beginning, something very like love after 6:00. Belohlávek’s recent recording on Onyx with the BBC Symphony may be preferable in the finale, where the new account’s freer tempos underscore the triumph of the ending, which Kubelík - maybe intentionally - leaves more ambivalent. The recorded sound is sufficient to give the orchestral piano its place, although you will miss some bass lines and timpani and the incredible colors of the opening pages. Supraphon engineers have, as elsewhere, used technology which removes the hisses and pops but at the expense of a slightly constricted acoustic. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e The disc is rounded out with Martin?’s \u003ci\u003eMemorial to Lidice\u003c\/i\u003e - a moving rendition which goes more slowly and tragically than many, although Eschenbach’s reading on Ondine is the most anguished I’ve heard - and a novelty, the \u003ci\u003eStalingrad Cantata\u003c\/i\u003e of Václav Dobiás. Written in 1945, the cantata for baritone, male chorus, and orchestra is an eleven-minute paean to the Soviet forces, or at least I’m assuming so, because the sung texts are not provided. The music sounds a bit like a ramshackle \u003ci\u003eNevsky Cantata\u003c\/i\u003e, with the same wildness and raw masculine energy but without the tunes or distinction. It counts as a welcome rarity, though, because recordings of Dobiás are otherwise basically non-existent. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e These are valuable historical broadcasts all around, then, from the world premiere recordings of Shostakovich’s Ninth and probably a few other works too, to the Dvorak concerto from the first Prague Spring festival. Rafael Kubelík’s conducting is consistently superb and insightful; his Martin? is energetic but powerful, his Shostakovich like nobody else. This can all be had in more modern recordings - the Dvo?ák symphony from Mackerras or Kubelík himself, the Martin? from Belohlávek or Thomson - but as a two-disc monument to Kubelík’s superb work with the Czech Philharmonic, this can’t be beaten. For a one-CD tribute to that pairing of great artists, though, we must remember the unforgettable Smetana concert they gave after the end of the Cold War. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e -- Brian Reinhart , MusicWeb International","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46024146092266,"sku":"099925408022","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1977733.jpg?v=1778316296"},{"product_id":"my-country","title":"MY COUNTRY","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025284092138,"sku":"099925191023","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1535724.jpg?v=1778328682"},{"product_id":"strauss-don-juan-brahms-symphony-no-2","title":"Strauss: Don Juan - Brahms: Symphony No. 2","description":"Classical Music","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025390031082,"sku":"748871303720","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/672364_9b285b0d-c2d6-48eb-9722-44f7a7b45b99.jpg?v=1778343332"},{"product_id":"dvorak-orchestral-works-concertos-262640","title":"Dvorak: Orchestral Works \u0026 Concertos","description":"\u003cp\u003eCollectors and admirers of Dvorak’s music bearing the hallmark of the Czech performance tradition can now add another comprehensive album to put alongside the previous complete Supraphon CDs mapping his chamber, piano, and symphonic works. The acclaimed recording of the symphonies, conducted by Vaclav Neumann, is now followed by Supraphon’s 8-CD box set featuring Dvorak’s orchestral pieces and concertos. In addition to the celebrated Slavonic Dances, it contains a number of rarely recorded symphonic works (the Hussite Overture, My Home, A Hero’s Song), as well as splendid compositions for chamber and string orchestras. Besides recordings made under the baton of Neumann, it provides scope to other great Dvorak conductors – Mackerras, Belohlavek and the rising star Jakub Hruša. The set of orchestral works is rounded off by recordings of concertos, ranging from the virtually unknown Cello Concerto in A major, written by the young Dvorak, to the most frequently performed, the Cello Concerto in B minor. Supraphon has again carefully put together top-quality and time-honoured recordings of works performed by world-renowned soloists.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026670932202,"sku":"099925412326","price":56.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2177479.jpg?v=1778319633"},{"product_id":"kalabis-symphonies-concertos-kosler-neumann-kalabis-belohlavek-262634","title":"Kalabis: Symphonies, Concertos \/ Kosler, Neumann, Kalabis, Belohlavek","description":"\u003cspan\u003e\"The quality of the 10 orchestral pieces assembled on the three-CD Supraphon set of Kalabis reissues has to be heard to be believed, the more so since the music itself is rarely encountered in the concert hall, outside the Czech Republic, at least. But these three discs have more than their fair share of masterworks. If I were coming to Kalabis’s music with innocent ears, it would take only the opening of the Second Symphony of 1959–61 to convince me that I was listening to a major symphonist. The opening \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAndante moderato\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e generates a sense of powerful foreboding which is released with terrific force in the \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAllegro molto e drammatico\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e that follows in what one is beginning to recognize as one of Kalabis’s typical manically striding marches. The brooding slow movement, an \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAndante\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e marked \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003emolto quieto\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e (the work was composed at the height of the Cold War) again builds up the tension, dispersed this time in a gloriously long-legged fugue which gradually expands into a gloriously dignified Finale. The First Violin Concerto (1958–59) lies somewhere between Martin? and Shostakovich, perhaps closer to the latter, and is hardly inferior to either, with a bristlingly energetic opening movement, a dark and troubled slow movement (marked \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eangoscioso\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e) with spiky and assertive central section, and a buoyant but sober Finale. The first disc closes with the 13-minute \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSymphonic Variations \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003efor Large Orchestra (1964). If the Dvorak \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSymphonic Variations\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e were more often performed, I would recommend resting that score for an occasional hearing of Kalabis’s tightly argued and absolutely unsentimental score—but even the Dvorak rarely gets a look-in these days, so I fear there’s little hope of hearing the Kalabis live, more’s the pity. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThe second disc opens with the Concerto for Large Orchestra, commissioned by Karel An?erl for the Czech Philharmonic and composed in 1965–66, which begins with one of Kalabis’s fiercest dissonances, but it’s one of those dense agglomerates which suggests resolution and, sure enough, an arching violin line emerges and purifies the air and, almost before we know it, we’re off on another of Kalabis’s white-knuckle \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eallegro\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003es; Kalabis described the middle movement as a “tragic meditation”; and the freewheeling Finale has something of the ferocious energy of the last movement of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Sixth Symphony, though Kalabis pauses for air rather more often. In contrast to the four-movement Second, the Third Symphony is in three movements, another of Kabalis’s galloping \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eallegro\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003es bookended by two uneasy essays, predominantly but not always slow and, as ever, with Kalabis, powered even at moderate tempos by the sense that there’s energy in plenty waiting to be given its head. Volume 2 ends with Kalabis’s Trumpet Concerto of 1973. R?ži?ková, who provides the booklet notes for the set, explains that, exceptionally, Kalabis was allowed to accompany her on a tour of France that year and, in a little town in Provence, he was given a statuette of the town crier, whose adventures the music depicts (hence the title, “Le Tambour de Villevieille”). Cast in two movements and 18 minutes long, it moves as easily as the other works here from knockabout vigor to anxious inaction. The drums that are occasionally heard in the first movement are, briefly, more prominent in the second and sound as if they are about to set up a tattoo but the music then sets off in a different direction. I find this work slightly less personal than the other pieces on offer here, but Kalabis’s craftsmanship is as evident here as elsewhere, and there aren’t so many good trumpet concertos in the world that trumpeters can afford to ignore this one. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eKalabis’s Harpsichord Concerto, composed in 1974–75 (no prizes for guessing who the dedicatee and first performer was), has something of the buoyancy of the Poulenc \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eConcert champêtre\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e and the angularity of neo-Classical Stravinsky—but far more of a sense of onward drive than either composer; indeed, it’s in the driving rhythms of the Finale that Kalabis comes closest to Martin? though, unsettlingly, it then subsides into anguished silence. R?ži?ková complained to her husband, only half-joking, that “You have let me die”; but the times in which it was written, he responded, did not permit another ending. Martin? was tangentially involved in the birth of the work, as R?ži?ková relates in her notes. She was performing the Martin? Concerto in Switzerland and the conductor asked if by chance she had heard of a Czech composer called Viktor Kalabis; much laughter ensued, and a commission soon after that. But don’t expect some maudlin love-letter: Kalabis obviously wanted to show the world what she could do, and the solo part is a demanding one; the piece is almost half-an-hour in length, too, which must make it one of the world’s longer harpsichord concertos. The second work on the third, all-concerto, disc is the Second Violin Concerto of 1977–78, performed by the much-missed Josef Suk, with whom R?ži?ková formed a duo in 1963, so it is good to see him represented here and find him in stellar form. Just over a quarter-hour in length, it’s in a single movement, as are the 22-minute Concerto for Piano and Winds (1985) and the 12-and-a-half-minute Concertino for Bassoon and Winds (1983)—the most explicitly Stravinskian works in this collection. All three are tightly argued, the first two earnest and generally grave in manner, with the Concertino exploiting the capacity of the bassoon to suggest boisterous and slightly preposterous good humor, though there are also a number of passages of almost hieratic starkness. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThe performances throughout make the case for the music as convincingly as you could ask. The recordings were made between 1968 and 1991 and have come up well. A few slips from the soloist in the Trumpet Concerto suggested it might be a live recording, a suspicion confirmed by the subsequent applause; a cough and the occasional noise serve the same function in the Bassoon Concertino. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eAltogether, this is an excellent survey of some of the major works of one of the major voices of recent times. Taken together with the MSR box (if you do not know the Fourth Symphony, you should not let yourself live in ignorance of it much longer), it should help Kalabis’s name before a Western public, even if it’s largely the small part of it that buys recordings. Bit by bit, one hopes, some of Kalabis’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eoeuvre\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e might begin to appear in concert, where audiences will cheer it to the rafters. In the meantime, I urge you to acquire this box and do some hollering at home.\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: Martin Anderson \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027427512554,"sku":"099925410926","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2146310.jpg?v=1778290579"},{"product_id":"janacek-glagolitic-mass-taras-bulba-63455","title":"Janacek: Glagolitic Mass; Taras Bulba","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027432001770,"sku":"099925366728","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1535697.jpg?v=1778328677"},{"product_id":"mussorgsky-pictures-at-an-exhibition-a-night-262556","title":"Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition; A Night On The Bare Mountain; Borodin: In The Steppes Of Central Asia","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027432034538,"sku":"099925366421","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1535708.jpg?v=1778338845"},{"product_id":"brahms-piano-concerto-no-1-tragic-overture-227565","title":"Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1; Tragic Overture","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027432132842,"sku":"099925367527","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2267479.jpg?v=1778321011"},{"product_id":"debussy-sibelius-schoenberg-faure-pelleas-et-melisand","title":"Debussy - Sibelius - Schoenberg - Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisand","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027472437482,"sku":"099925389925","price":37.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1051800.jpg?v=1778342413"},{"product_id":"dvorak-symphony-no-9-symphonic-variations-carnival-262552","title":"Dvorak: Symphony No. 9; Symphonic Variations; Carnival","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027475681514,"sku":"099925363925","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1535277.jpg?v=1778338799"},{"product_id":"dvorak-symphony-no-9-from-the-new-world-smetana-ma-v","title":"Dvorák: Symphony No. 9, \"From the New World\" - Smetana: Má v","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027478565098,"sku":"099925401627","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1627731.jpg?v=1778286632"},{"product_id":"mozart-beethoven-brahms-violin-concertos","title":"Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms: Violin Concertos","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027479122154,"sku":"099925401528","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1616707.jpg?v=1778323718"},{"product_id":"best-of-classics","title":"Best of Classics","description":"Ten famous composers are represented on this fantastic 10-CD set, with each disc focusing on some of the best-known music from each conductor. You’ll hear some of the most celebrated compositions from Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Antonin Dvořák, Leos Janacek, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Bedrich Smetana, Johann Strauss, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky and Antonio Vivaldi. Selections include the wistful Largo from Dvořák’s New World Symphony, the solemn entrance of the piano in Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in B flat minor, the festive Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the sweet bird song and summer storm from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and an inexhaustible amount of other musical treasures. This box set is truly a “Best of ” the best—the perfect present for you and your nearest and dearest, who like beautiful music in top quality.","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027479351530,"sku":"099925401320","price":90.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1755580.jpg?v=1778332375"},{"product_id":"dvorak-rostropovich-lp-208291","title":"Dvorak - Rostropovich - (Lp)","description":"I consider this recording of Dvorak's cello concerto the best I have ever made. And even though later on I recorded the concerto another seven times, it is the one that means the most to me. Throughout my life I have remained faithful to that which Vaclav Talich taught me.' - Rostropovich Supraphon returns to the most celebrated recording of the most frequently performed cello concerto and it's release, directly mastered in pure analogue, is a very special treat for lovers of the warm, rich vinyl sound. 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However, around 1970 he apparently offended the powers that were, and his many recordings and publications disappeared. Now, after more than two decades of what seemed to be total obliteration, Kabelác's music has, during the past year, made its first appearances on CD, mostly with reissue of broadcast performances from his period of prominence. For comment on those releases, together with further background information, see Fanfare 17:2, pp. 280-81, and 17:3, pp. 214-15. In both those reviews I cited The Mystery of Time as perhaps Kabelác's most distinctive and compelling work, in urgent need of representation on disc. And now its sole previous recording returns to the catalog, bringing to eight the number of works by this composer currently available, although only one is a newly recorded performance.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The Mystery of Time, composed in 1957, is a work of tremendous power and originality. In some ways it is comparable to the Sinfonia Sacra of Andrzej Panufnik, although its aesthetic impact is quite different. But it shares with the Polish work a number of characteristics, among them a ready accessibility, despite the renunciation of most traditional formal and harmonic procedures, and of the sophisticated nuances, embellishments, qualifications, and other devices associated with “expressive“ music. There is little sense of vulnerable humanity in Kabelác's music—of a subjective point of view. Rather, it seems to suggest an impersonal landscape, governed by a supreme order far removed from the judgments or concerns of living creatures. The Mystery of Time represents Kabelác's unusual metaphysical attitude in its most fully and successfully realized manifestation, conjuring the vast expanse of time that stretches from the infinite past to the infinite future, its unwavering forward momentum suggesting the inexorable motion of the heavenly bodies.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The form has been described as a sort of passacaglia, but only in a loose sense: It is not based on contrapuntal development over a recurring bass line, but it does involve a gradual accumulation of energy through the evolving development of simple motivic elements. The work begins with an ominous murmur strongly reminiscent of the opening of Shostakovich's Eleventh Symphony (which dates from the same year), with regard to both mood and actual content. Basic, elemental intervallic material is introduced into a static void, slowly building momentum through a process of imperceptibly altered repetition that must be described as proto-Minimalist. The effect suggests the implacable passage of time viewed from the perspective of a dispassionate eternal consciousness. With great deliberateness the twenty-five-minute work gradually builds in intensity through motivic metamorphosis and interlayered levels of rhythmic acceleration in a grim, inexorable crescendo that eventually culminates in a revelatory cosmic orgasm, before finally returning to the static void.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Karel Ancerl was a close friend of Kabelac and a consistent champion of his music, introducing The Mystery of Time throughout Europe and even in the United States. This recording dates from 1960, and the performance is sympathetically conceived and solidly executed. Of course, a new recording, in modern sonics, would be most welcome, but this reissue provides a valuable opportunity to discover one of the most unforgettable European works of the mid-twentieth century.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Hamlet Improvisation was composed in 1963 and represents a later development in Kabelác's musical language—more terse, angular, dissonant, and gestural—but with much the same underlying metaphysical outlook. The title is enigmatic, as the work has no improvisational elements and its connection with Shakespeare's play or the hero thereof is tenuous at best. The composer's own explanation suggests the obfuscatory philosophical doubletalk that passed for musical commentary in Eastern Europe during the Soviet period. However, the piece, in which angry, dissonant passages alternate with moments of eerie mystery, might have been less misleadingly entitled Contrasts for Orchestra or some such. 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