It would very much seem that the 19th- and 20th-century Czech piano concerto repertoire begins and ends with Dvorák and Martinu. The present recording, however, serves to prove that this is far from being the case. It contains three piano concertos that have been – undeservedly – overlooked.

Vítezslava Kaprálová wrote the Piano Concerto in D minor, characterized by brilliant instrumentation and an engrossing solo part, at the age of 20 as her graduation work. The premiere, which she herself conducted, met with great critical acclaim. In1937, the young composer moved to Paris to study with Bohuslav Martinu. Just a year later, Kaprálová was lauded at the International Society for Contemporary Music festival in London, which she opened conducting the BBC Orchestra performing her Military Sinfonietta. In 1940, when she was just 25, the gifted artist’s life and career were sadly terminated by a serious illness.

At that very age, Karel Kovarovic created his one and only piano concerto. A pupil of Zdenek Fibich, he would later on primarily gain recognition as a conductor and serve as director of Prague’s National Theatre Opera (1900–1920). Kovarovic’s Piano Concerto in F minor affords the soloists great scope to display their virtuosity.

Pavel Borkovec, a pupil of J. B. Foerster and Josef Suk, wrote his Piano Concerto No. 2 after World War II. At the time a mature artist, as a teacher he cultivated a new generation of major Czech composers (Petr Eben, Jan Novák, Vladimír Sommer, etc.).

The main protagonist of the present album, the pianist Marek Kozák, who has garnered accolades at a number of competitions (Zurich, Bolzano, Bremen, Prague, and elsewhere), has a penchant for exploring little-known and forgotten landscapes, as attested to by this revelatory recording.

The jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Emil Viklický is celebrating his 75th birthday. This re-edition reflects the prolific, versatile Moravia-born artist’s penchant for folk music, transformed into pieces for trio plus special guests. The double-bassist František Uhlír and the drummer Cyril Zelenák have joined forces with other superb violinist Jiří Pavlica (70 this year), the cimbalom saxophonist František Kop, and the singers Iva Bittová (65 this year) and legendary Vera Domincová. Nine melodious compositions, one of which is presented by stellar musicians and adorned by outstanding vocals, which at the socially and musically exciting time of the first release in 1991 were not paid the attention they richly deserve. The music still comes across as fresh, inspired, and inspiring, as clearly attested to by the current CD/LP re-issue, containing retrospective texts and, what is more, featuring photographs on the graphically compelling cover. Moravian folk music as performed by gifted, extraordinarily sensitive artists.

A composition, as a phenomenon or an act of creation, can be understood as a reflection of the time in which it was written. An improvisation, in some sense, is also an act of creation, a kind of composition, and it also reflects its time. Performing transcriptions, “borrowings” (even of whole pieces), remakes, and quotations was a common thing at the time of George Frideric Handel (1685–1759). Handel himself, as the first cosmopolitical composer in the world, was open to various styles and cultures and would quote and remake his own works. He was a Great Master, undoubtfully equal to Johann Sebastian Bach, but he was not a purist, which may explain some of the solutions we used on this album. Handel was a star and a celebrity of his times. He would compose, understand, and love the genre of opera, which, out of all kinds of art, is closest to the man (with his issues, traumas, and challenges); a genre that is full of life and “venous” like a human body. He was perfectly at ease in the world of theatre, stage, and entertainment. All the above can be easily heard in the harmony and melodies of his sonatas. In some way, we are following this way of thinking – being fascinated by the music of the Great Master, we allow ourselves some surprising (in our opinion) differentiations and modifications. We are doing this here and now, drawing on the past eras (classicism and especially romanticism [sic!]). We are also not afraid to refer to different forms of popular music such as jazz or even pop music. We are doing it, because the music of our time, i.e. popular music, is all around us and sneaks into our minds. We are being impregnated with it beyond our conscience and will, since it is “everywhere we listen”, i.e. in restaurants, shops, on our way to work. Although this aspect of entertainment stands out a bit on our recording, we decided not to remove it. The sonatas presented on this CD are not one-dimensional – there are many parenthesis, interrupted thoughts, and surprising endings. However, the listener will quickly find the beauty, charm, elegance, logic, and depth of this music, always combined with masterful harmony and melodies. The audience can notice perfect, but natural and sincere melodies, in which Handel vents his feelings in a bit uncontrolled and improvised way; feelings that are “poignant in their poetry.” It is especially the slow movements that sound like elegies, epitaphs, or odes, full of pain, longing, mysticism, and wisdom. “Our art, weary of post-Beethovenesque and post-Wagneresque art, can find in Handel’s music (similarly to chamber music by Mozart) a poetic refuge, to heal its futile anxiety and to experience again silence and wellbeing.” Paweł Losakiewicz & Robert Morawski

The work of Feliks Nowowiejski constitutes one of the most interesting testimonies to the stylistic evolution of Polish composers born in the late-19th century. Five years older than Karol Szymanowski, and a year younger than Mieczysław Karłowicz, Nowowiejski chronologically belonged to the Młoda Polska (Young Poland) period. However, he never became a member of the movement; what is more, his artistic path was so individualistic that it is diff icult to talk about the composer’s aff iliation to any group or style. Nowowiejski’s entire long and artistically unusually active life was marked by a series of stylistic shift s, of permanent quests and changes which did not result from a spurious desire to chase the evolution of trends current in the world, but from authentic openness to varied impulses and sources of inspiration. This way, Nowowiejski joins the group of artists who were no strangers to radical stylistic change (e.g. Igor Stravinsky, who was five years his junior, revealed a similar stylistic flexibility). A composer of thorough education, Feliks Nowowiejski followed a path to obtain it that was typical of late-19th-century talents born away from the main centres. He hailed from Barczewo, and the first years of his musical education were associated with his native Warmia i Mazury region: first, at the school of music in Święta Lipka, and later in Olsztyn, where he was a musician of the East Prussia Grenadier Regiment Orchestra. The school in Święta Lipka prepared students for the profession of organist and teacher. It also taught playing various instruments, with particular emphasis put on vocal music. Nowowiejski’s education resembles this of another Slavic composer of the breakthrough era, Leoš Janáček. Like Janáček, Nowowiejski, whose education revealed a particularly conservative trait, in a later stage of his artistic career awoke in himself a modernist talent. What’s more, it was (very unique!) Slavic modernism, which never lost sight of the composer’s origin, and his love for music of greatly varied sources (folk and traditional melodies, church and patriotic songs). Naturally, these were the later years in Berlin, the prestigious Meyerbeer Prize (which he won twice), the extensive studies with Max Bruch that were most important from the point of view of Nowowiejski’s career and renown. As a relatively young composer, he took a place among the most popular composers of his day by storm, while no work by any other Polish composer of the early-20th century could match the worldwide success of Nowowiejski’s oratorio Quo vadis. World War One thoroughly changed the situation. Involvement in the revival of independent Poland and his political engagement (active role in the preparations for the plebiscite in Warmia i Mazury, which Poland eventually lost) made the composer famous at home, but held back his international career (following his association with the plebiscite, the previously successful Quo vadis was no longer performed in Germany).

During the first year after its publication, selected Slavonic Dances were performed in Prague, New York, Boston, London, Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne, Bonn, Nice, Graz, Lucerne, and other cities … Dvořák’s music is deeply engraved in the DNA of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, who have performed it under conductors of such renown as Jirí Belohlávek, Charles Mackerras, Václav Neumann, Tomáš Netopil, etc.

The new recording, made with Tomáš Brauner, the orchestra’s current music director, draws upon an illustrious interpretation tradition, with its rounded and transparent sound capturing the best qualities of the exquisite Art Nouveau Smetana Hall of the Municipal House in Prague. / Slavonic Dances with the Prague Symphony Orchestra – Dvorák in good hands

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.

Leo� Jan�cek and the generation younger B�la Bart�k and Igor Stravinsky were major 20th-century composers markedly influenced by folk music, bringing it to bear in their own creations. Jan�cek and Bart�k also keenly devoted to folklore as theoreticians and collected folk songs around the villages. Stravinsky, for his part, was mesmerised by folk rituals. A case in point is Les noces, which in four choreographed scenes depicts Russian wedding customs. Following significant revisions of the instrumentation, the fourth, definitive, version of the piece received it's world premiere in 1923 in Paris, as performed by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, to Bronislava Nijinska's choreography. Jan�cek conceived his Nursery Rhymes at the age of 71, shortly after completing the opera The Makropulous Case. He too made changes to the instrumentation before arriving at a satisfactory form. The second version of the set bears witness to Jan�cek's being enthralled by Stravinsky's music. The Three Village Scenes for female voices and chamber orchestra feature arrangements of folk tunes Bart�k collected in the Zvolen district in today�s Slovakia. The set is evidently influenced by Stravinsky's style as well. The three challenging works have been undertaken by Luk� Vasilek conducting the outstanding Prague Philharmonic Choir, which on numerous occasions have displayed it's exceptional qualities and a great sense for performing music inspired by folk art. The album links up to the highly acclaimed recording of Bohuslav Martinu's cantatas (Gramophone Editor's Choice, nomination for the BBC Music Magazine Award). The rediscovered magic of folk songs and traditional rituals in the music of three 20th-century masters.

The music of Jan Novák (1921–1984) is extraordinary and remarkable as such. However, this recording puts a kind of stamp of authenticity on it since the solo parts are played not only by pianist Karel Košárek but also by both of the composer’s daughters. While flautist Clara Nováková might have gone back in memories to the time when she was fifteen and her father dedicated the first version of Choreae vernales to her, Dora Novak-Wilmington sat on the piano stool instead of her mother, Eliška, who played the instrument as brilliantly as her husband, Jan.

In a way, this recording exudes the atmosphere of a family reunion across time. Novák’s Concerto for Two Pianos reflects his impressions of studying with Bohuslav Martinu in New York (where they visited jazz clubs together) as well as his desire for recognition from his teacher. The historical recording of the work (Jan and Eliška Novák, Czech Philharmonic, Karel Ancerl, 1957) deserves to be complemented by a representative modern recording. Concentus biiugis for piano four hands was performed in the year of its creation in the composer’s exile in Germany as a way of supporting Charter 77, an anti-regime movement in his homeland.

The first version of Choreae vernales was written in the same year in Italy and three years later Novák clothed it in the colourful attire of string orchestra. It is this nearly unknown version of the composition that is newly recorded here. The orchestra’s involvement and renowned conductor Tomáš Netopil’s distinct musicianship help the soloists to create Jan Novák’s colourful and striking musical landscape - A new recording of Jan Novák’s concertos – a family reunion across time.

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.

Piano Trio No. 4, “Dumky”, ranking among Antonín Dvořák’s most celebrated works, is one of the most frequently recorded chamber pieces in existence. After attending a performance, with the composer on the piano, Leoš Janáček summed up his impressions succinctly: “A new source of light has flashed.” When it comes to Piano Trio No. 3, the renowned Vienna-based critic Eduard Hanslick called it a gem, demonstrating that Dvořák was “one of the best modern masters”. Piano Trios No. 1 and 2, however, have been scarcely performed. In this light, the complete recording of Dvořák’s piano trios is a project richly deserving attention. All the more so due to the artists who have made it: Boris Giltburg, winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition and one of the world’s most distinguished contemporary pianists, alongside Veronika Jarušková and Peter Jarušek, members of the globally celebrated Pavel Haas Quartet, who have earned great recognition for performing Dvořák’s music – Gramophone Recording of the Year (quartets) and Gramophone Chamber Award (quintets, together with Giltburg).

The three musicians featured on the album manifest an incredible chime. Possessing the uttermost technical brilliance, they breathe as one. The album was made at the studios in the picturesque Wye Valley, straddling the border between England and Wales, under the supervision of the legendary producer Andrew Keener while London was celebrating the coronation of Charles III. Exceptional moments for Dvořák’s exceptional music... Giltburg – Jarušková – Jarušek: A truly one-of-a-kind Dvořák festivity.

REVIEWS:

Make no mistake, this is Dvořák playing of the highest order and – even against some strong competition – these performances as a whole set a new benchmark in this marvellous quartet of works. Urgently recommended!

-- Europadisc

Happily, the present ensemble is equal to the demands of these fine works. The string players have a wealth of experience in the Czech repertoire as long-standing members of the celebrated Pavel Haas Quartet. Indeed, one of the most immediately striking aspects in these performances is the sheer beauty of the string sound. They are ably matched by pianist Boris Giltburg whose care over articulation and unfussy, nuanced playing is a constant delight. Among highlights, the conclusion of the development of the first movement of the B flat trio is quite magical and the entire F minor trio is powerfully focussed while resisting the hectoring tendency that mars even some committed renditions.”

-- BBC Music Magazine, November 2023

These performers bring out the rustic elements in this music; they connect with the childlike stargazers that we all are at heart, and that is a good part of Dvořák’s appeal. I suppose you could call it the ultimate in authentic performance, and that’s fine by me. Great sound, too (Wyastone Concert Hall, 2022 23, producer Andrew Keener). Strongly recommended.

-- Gramophone, Awards Issue 2023

The ‘Dumky’ trio is a delight here, as it should be; but I found myself drawn more to the others, enjoying the way they bring the folk rhythms and Dvorak’s lyrical gifts together, and the sense of effortless virtuosity and power Giltburg brings, even though a lot of the time he isn’t unleashing it.

-- BBC Radio 3, 30th September 2023

What a marvellous disc. Jaruskova and Jarusek of the Pavel Haas Quartet and the renowned pianist Giltburg are so at home in the four piano trios they might almost be tearing the freshly finished pages from Dvorak’s hands. Superbly recorded by Andrew Kenner, this is a total delight.

-- The Sunday Times, 8th October 2023

I found this disc an example of chamber musicianship at its best: the excellent sound engineering balances and blends parts, which underscores the ensemble’s suc­cessful delivery of Dvořák’s most sensitive nuances and extroverted peaks. Listening to all the selections in succession, we are treated to a vibrant experience indeed—but one in which the distinctive essence of each trio is aptly captured.

-- The Classic Review, October 2023

Bohuslav Martinu was a violinist himself; yet the piano colour in many of his symphonic scores is his actual signature. The two instruments are assigned solo roles in the Concerto for Violin; Piano and Orchestra (1953); commissioned by Benno and Sylvia Rabinof; who duly premiered it in May 1954. Written concurrently with Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies symphoniques); the remarkable work is hardly ever performed nowadays. Different is the case of Violin Sonata No. 3 (1944); created in the USA too; which has long been a staple of violinists’ repertoires worldwide. Amid the atmosphere of the imminent end of WWII and feeling homesick; Martinu conceived a monument whose duration is that of a symphony; a work teeming with contrastive drama and lyricism; and featuring a Dvorák-like nostalgia; evoking his Czech roots. In comparison with the two “American” works; the Cinq pièces brèves (1930); dating from Martinu’s Paris period; contain far rougher harmonies and piquancy; attesting to a penchant for the Charleston; as well as a propensity to the contrapuntal style.

On their album; the globally renowned artists Josef Špacek and Miroslav Sekera present Martinu as an astute creator of chamber music and concertos; a composer both international and Czech; widely known and still being discovered alike. Martinu’s music for violin and piano – a universe of intriguing contrasts

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.

Bella Adamova can shortly be characterised through her triumphs at competitions (e.g. laureate of the International Robert Schumann Competition, Zwickau, 2021; winner of the Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition, Graz, 2022; Oratorio Prize at the International Vocal Competition, ‘s- Hertogenbosch, 2022). Or as a young Chechen woman who left her country as a child shortly before the war and found a new home in Prague. She has learned from many acclaimed singers (e.g. von Otter, Hampson, Prégardien) in England, Switzerland, and Germany. She speaks several languages, but she never learned Chechen. She could also be described as a contralto with an extraordinary sensibility in the song repertoire and with a deep, beautifully coloured voice. Or as an improviser who – in rare harmony with pianist Michael Gees – creates spontaneous compositions on texts of their favourite poets. The theme of this album is the search for home and the knowledge of a place where one belongs. Bella Adamova narrates the songs as her own story, at the same time accentuating the life stories of the composers as well as their relationship to their home or their feeling of being outcast. Rather than a typical song recital, this recording is an invitation to the musicians’ own world where every word, no matter what language it is sung in, has its deep meaning. Songs as Bella Adamova’s real home.

An original selection of Leoš Janácek’s works released on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the composer’s death.

In connection with the previous compilation, The Many Loves of Antonín Dvořák, which met with favorable response from reviewers in the USA and in the UK, we asked the BBC3 long-time music producer and one of the great experts in and lovers of Czech music and its recordings, Patrick Lambert, to compile a similar series dedicated to the Moravian master.

Its name alone – Many Passions – reflects Janáček’s temperament and the selection is a result of thorough research into his personality. The composer approached all life’s changes with a wide range of emotions. Therefore, eight categories were created and got the same names as Janáček’s passions: the Folk Tradition; the Czech Case – Politics and Patriotism; Family; Life and Nature; Friendship with Dvorák; Women; Russian Literature; Religious Roots.

The set contains famous pieces, such as Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba, Glagolitic Mass, Jenufa and The Cunning Little Vixen, as well as many discoveries that put Janáček’s work into context, e.g. his choruses Seventy-thousand and The Czech Legion, the Danube Symphony, Prelude in G minor for organ and a fragment of his Mass in E flat major. The selection of performers includes the classics of Janáček interpretation from Brno and Prague and some unique archival recordings as well as many new ones.

Among the conductors are Bretislav Bakala, František Jílek, Jaroslav Vogel, Václav Neumann, Karel Ancerl, Bohumil Gregor, Sir Charles Mackerras and Jakub Hruša, and other performers include important Bohemian and Moravian choirs, soloists Theodor Šrubar, Beno Blachut, Libuše Domanínská and Gabriela Benacková, and instrumentalists Josef Suk, Ilja Hurník, Jan Panenka, the Janáček Quartet and the Pavel Haas Quartet. The choice of compositions deeply reflects Janáček’s greatly varied music, paying homage to the most remarkable 20th-century Czech composer on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of his death and celebrating the unique richness of Supraphon’s archives.