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

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

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

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

Antonín Dvorák was a deeply religious person, and sacred music duly constitutes a significant part of his oeuvre. The present album features three different types of works. The Mass in D major was commissioned by the composer’s patron Josef Hlávka for the inauguration of a country chapel. The Biblical Songs are highly intimate pieces, set to the Czech translation of Dvorák’s favourite Psalms, while Te Deum is a magnificent cantata for festive events, which, however, just like the other two works, affords space for contemplation and meditation. All three opuses are adorned with inspired melodies, as well as intriguing involvement of the solo singers and the choir. The album contains recordings made by the Prague Philharmonic Choir and the Prague Symphony Orchestra in 1969 and 1970. The Biblical Songs are performed by the baritone Jindrich Jindrák, a long-time soloist of the National Theatre in Prague. Dvorák’s heartfelt sacred music, singularly performed by superb artists.

Pianist Tomáš Sýkora releases a new album based on an original sound concept mixing traditional jazz trio with electronics. Sýkora’s current band (Tomáš Sýkora – piano, TomášLiška – baskytara, Roman Vícha – bicí) is joined by a distinguished specialist from the sphere of electronic music, Ondrej Mikula alias Aid Kid, who has greatly contributed to its novel sound, making it both original and homogeneous. Together, the musicians have created a dynamic and highly original fusion of jazz and modern electronic music. The music has been enthusiastically received by audiences during a mini-tour undertaken by the band earlier thisspring, before they embarked on recording the project at the Sono Doupe Records studio.Among the hallmarks of Tomáš Sýkora’s new band count the employment of synthesizer as a counterpoint to acoustic piano, the infectious grooves of the rhythm section, improvised passages, the varied timbre and mood of individual compositions, sophisticated musical structures and a novel deployment of live electronics.

The internationally renowned Czech-born composer Karel Husa, Pulitzer Prize and Grawemeyer Award winner, gathered invaluable experience from Arthur Honegger and Nadia Boulanger, with whom he studied in Paris in the 1940s and 1950s. He was also greatly influenced by the folk music of his native Bohemia, as well as Slovakia, which is duly reflected in his Évocations de Slovaquie and Four Bohemian Sketches. Husa’s later pieces for clarinet and a variety of other instruments attest to his propensity for innovation and experimentation, yet all of them are comprehensible and listener-friendly. The present album opens with the gracious and, now and then, melancholy Sonatina by Bohuslav Martinu, who, just like Husa, studied in Paris and experienced exile sorrow. The young Czech clarinettist Anna Paulová, a Prague Spring laureate and the holder of numerous accolades from other international competitions, has enthusiastically devoted to Karel Husa over the long term. Recorded with superb instrumentalists, her Supraphon debut is likely to increase general interest in the remarkable composer’s music. A variety of clarinet colours and shades in Karel Husa and Bohuslav Martinu works

This new release from DUX presents the second volume in the series of albums featuring the compositional oeuvre of Piotr Maszyński (1855-1934). Out of the composer's rich vocal works, further songs were selected, many of which receive their world premiere recordings on this disc.

Maszyński was particularly associated with the artistic life of Warsaw? it was there that he created, worked in institutions promoting culture (he was, among others, director of the Opera) and founded the "Lutnia" Singing Society. He preferred songs accompanied by the piano, most often solo, but also duets, which can be heard on the album.

Song is a special artistic medium; it combines music and poetry, sensitivity to words with a sense of melody. The times in which Maszyński composed were exceptionally conducive to such an expression, still embedded in the spirit of neo-romantic sensitivity.

Composer Mark Nowakowski returns with a powerful and compelling sophomore effort in "Metanoia." His 2017 NAXOS premiere album, Blood Forgotten, saw Nowakowski praised by Gramophone magazine for his "bold and empathetic art." Metanoia certainly continues this theme, containing chamber, vocal, and choral works which tell the story of deep personal struggle and transformation, a fitting commentary on our tumultuous times. Featuring a rich international cast of performers, it begins with the searing title track (scored for cello octet), proceeds through a selection of recordings representing highlights from the composer's career up to this point, and concludes with the hauntingly meditative Bogurodzica: Meditation for cello duo and electronics.

During the 18th century, the string quartet gained the position of the most valued and most challenging chamber music genre, and gradually became a vehicle for conveying the composer’s personal feelings. Joseph Haydn played a key role in forging the quartet’s classical form. He created almost 70 string quartets, which, along with the symphonies, constitute the largest, as well as the most significant, part of his oeuvre. Haydn accorded them the form that would serve as the model for Mozart, Beethoven, and later composers. Just as fascinating as the quantity is his quartets’ sheer diversity, with each of them being singular, featuring novel (often humorous) ideas, experiments, as well as constant seeking of new possibilities of expression.

The three quartets included on the present album chart the development of Haydn’s musical idiom, from Op. 17 (1771), which he wrote at the age of 40, through Op. 33, dubbed “Gli Scherzi” (1781, dedicated to the Grand Duke of Russia Pavel Petrovich, the future Tsar Paul I), to the formally experimental pieces making up Op. 54 (1788). The Bennewitz Quartet have given numerous concerts worldwide, including at the most prestigious venues (Wigmore Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, concert halls in New York, Seoul, etc.) and such renowned festivals as the Salzburger Festspiele, Lucerne Festival and Rheingau Musik Festival. At many of them, they have performed quartets by Haydn, one of their favourite composers, whose music they endow with a transparent sound, revealing their levity and sense for detail. The Bennewitz Quartet – at home with Haydn

Some legends remain concealed … The name Martin Ballý may be new to many, yet it is definitely worth remembering. Proof in this respect is given by the renowned pianists Jan Bartoš and Miroslav Sekera, his pupils, whose extraordinary art bears witness to Ballý’s outstanding qualities as a teacher. Yet the main testimony is Ballý’s own recordings, hitherto untouched and patiently waiting in the radio archives.

His repertoire as a solo pianist centers on 20th-century Czech music: unrivaled interpretations of Janáček and Martinů works, mesmerizing renditions of Kabeláč pieces. In his straightforward expressiveness, Ballý is not afraid to venture to the very limit of his instrument’s potential, but his tone remains radiant and colorful. Besides solo piano (his teachers included Josef Páleníček), Ballý devoted to chamber music (studying with the no less famous Josef Vlach). As a member of Ars Trio, his partners were children of the mentioned teachers, the violinist Dana Vlachová (today a member of the Czech Trio) and the cellist Jan Páleníček (now a member of the Smetana Trio). Their recordings feature gems of Czech trio music (Dvořák, Novák, Martinů) and two remarkable global repertoire creations (Shostakovich, Mozart). The majority of the recordings, dating from between 1980 and 1992, are from the Czech Radio archives and are now being released for the very first time. legends are well worth waiting for.

The Noble-Slavík-Clarvis Trio plays purely acoustic music that draws deeply from the jazz tradition and playing styles of the past. However, it creatively transforms them into a contemporary form and at the same time points to the possible future development of this genre. The trio brings together the Czech double bassist Jirí Slavík and two musicians from the UK, both a generation older than him, the leading English jazz pianist Liam Noble and Abbey Road percussionist Paul Clarvis. The collaborative recordings of this acclaimed duo have been a major influence on Slavík since he first met them as a student at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Noble and Clarvis have played together in various formations and are also very fond of meeting as a duo to sail through pop, classical and jazz repertoire together with an easy, detached view and grace. Both musicians always manage to play with dynamics and enjoy making music together.

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

“The artist's first task is to forget himself.” This statement, bold in its time, has been ascribed to Eugène Ysaÿe, referred to as the “King of the Violin”, who as a composer and performer considerably contributed to the modernization of violin playing. In 1923, he was so deeply impressed by J. S. Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001, as performed by Joseph Szigeti, that within a few hours (!) he sketched a set of six sonatas as a counterpart to Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, BWV 1001-1006. Ysaÿe dedicated each of his sonatas to a superb contemporary violinist, tailoring it to his style. Technically reaching the limits of the instrument, the pieces placed enormous requirements on the dedicatees (Szigeti, Thibaud, Enescu, Kreisler, Crickboom, Quiroga), yet they remain challenging for the violinists of today.

One hundred years after Ysaÿe created the set of six sonatas, this formidable task has been undertaken by the outstanding young Czech virtuoso Daniel Matejča, the winner of the Eurovision Young Musicians competition (2022), Telemann Violin Competition (Poznan 2020) and Jugend musiziert (Halle 2019). Matejča studied with such distinguished violinists as Boris Belkin and Christian Tetzlaff, and, after collaborating to acclaim with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, has been invited to perform with other renowned orchestras. Supraphon has shifted the 100-year-old concept to the 21st century and commissioned a composition that would reflect Ysaÿe’s sonatas, as well as young violinists’ musicality and virtuosity. Jana Vöröšová’s Obsession II is both answer and challenge. Ysaÿe’s sonatas – a cherished challenge for the young virtuoso Daniel Matejča.

Lukáš Vondráček and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Scarcely do we encounter a connection between a musician and a composer so close, strong and energizing. When, at the age of 15, Vondráček was invited by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Czech Philharmonic to perform Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 1, he had garnered international acclaim at numerous concerts and competitions. Just a year later, the pianist toured the USA and appeared at Carnegie Hall. At the age of 29, he triumphed at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels (2016), performing Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3, conducted by Marin Alsop. Love at first listen, Rachmaninoff has become his flagship composer: “Besides affording the opportunity to showcase one’s technique, his music impresses by being contrastive and having an immense dynamic range ... What more could a person keen on tone color wish? It’s sheer beauty!”

Lukáš Vondráček has been invited to perform Rachmaninoff’s concertos by the most prominent orchestras and conductors worldwide. The present album is one of the few sweet fruits of the Covid pandemic, which cleared the soloist’s otherwise jam-packed diary and afforded him peaceful time for recording. The booklet contains an interview with Lukáš Vondráček, within which he provides an account of his ample experience of and great affinity to Rachmaninoff. Yet the most powerful confession is the recording itself, made with the superb Prague Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Tomáš Brauner, capturing performances rendering every detail, teeming with emotion, colour and contrast. Sheer beauty indeed! Rachmaninoff in Lukáš Vondráček’s hands. A lavish musical feast.

Gary Guthman – composer, jazz musician, trumpet player – originally from Portland Oregon, Gary Guthman began his career with the Stan Kenton Jazz Summer Band Camp series, was a winner of the US National Championship for Bands, and studied composition at Portland State University as well as composition, arranging, and orchestration techniques under the tutelage of Henry Mancini and Don Costa (arranger for Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, and Tony Bennett). Later, he was on the faculty of music at the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, and Grant MacEwan University. Mr. Guthman has composed, arranged, and performed for the “ITV in Concert Series”, “Celebrity Review”, “The Palace”, and "The Tommy Banks Show”. He has written and arranged for premier performances with the Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Portland Symphony, Austin Symphony, and the New York Pops (Carnegie Hall). Gary Guthman has cooperated in concert with such renowned artists as Stan Kenton, Louis Bellson, The Dorsey Brothers Big Band, Clark Terry as well as the Bee Gees, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, Paul Anka, Burt Bacharach, Tony Bennett, Michel Legrand, Anne Murray, Neil Sedaka. From 1999 to 2001 he was musical director for Michael Bublé. Mr. Guthman currently resides in Warsaw Poland.

Andrzej Nikodemowicz (1925–2017) was a versatile composer. His music was inspired mainly by broadly understood spirituality, close to the sphere of sacrum – a large part of his achievements are cantatas, rooted in the tradition of religious music, but he also tried his hand at instrumental forms, not shying away from modern techniques and sonic quests. The piano was a particularly important instrument for the composer. He knew how to extract from it a cosmos of colours, a condensed sonic matter, the spectrum of which contained a palette of orchestral-like sounds. Those qualities can be perfectly heard in the compositions presented on the album: three Piano Sonatas, Op. 7, 16 and 22, composed in 1947–1958. This album is also the world recording premiere of those works.

The traditional rules of the sonata genre were modified here; the sound is massive and saturated, and the expression is intensified by the extraordinary technical challenges faced by the performer. However, it is not only about bravado and showmanship; the compositions adhere to an iron compositional logic, and it is to that logic that the virtuosity is subordinated. Nikodemowicz’s Sonatas are performed by Gajusz Kęska, an extremely talented Polish pianist, winner of numerous national and international piano competitions, soloist and chamber musician performing at many prestigious festivals and in renowned concert halls in Europe. Moreover, he has outstanding achievements in the field of music pedagogy.