Bach - Berio - Boulez: Marek svejkar's bold and brilliant debut The clarinet is one of the instruments with the broadest spectrum of sonic possibilities in terms of it's range of dynamics and pitches. It received the greatest attention during the era of Classicism both in solo parts in concertos and in the roles of a chamber music partner and an orchestral instrument. It had to wait until the 20th century for works featuring it's unaccompanied solo voice in it's full range of colours. Outstanding among the composers who created such works are two figures who fundamentally shaped musical thinking in the latter half of the 20th century: Luciano Berio and Pierre Boulez. Commemorating the 100th anniversaries of both men's birth, this recording covers their complete music for solo clarinet. Berio and Boulez sought new ways to organise music in time and space, and both took inspiration from poetry. Boulez gave symbolic expression to their quest: "It must be our concern... to jettison the concept of a work as a simple journey starting with a departure and ending with an arrival." One of the things that inspired Berio's idea of "polyphonic music for a monophonic instrument" were works by J. S. Bach. One of them, Partita in A minor for solo flute, is heard on this recording in juxtaposition with the modernism of the 20th century. The clarinettist Marek svejkar is a laureate of the Premier Prix from Paris's prestigious Conservatoire National Superieur, and he has been a winner of international competitions including events in Markneukirchen, Germany, and in Carlino, Italy. He has appeared as a soloist with the Czech Philharmonic and with Jiri Belohlavek, and having participated at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, he is now enrolled at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome under the tutelage of Alessandro Carbonare. The elite circle of European clarinettists is now within Marek svejkar's reach.

Suk, Martinu, and Fiser in the creative hands of young virtuosos The Supraphon debut of 18-year-old Daniel Matejca (Ysaye - Violin Sonatas, 2023) has attracted great attention with critics around the world writing about his remarkable talent, comparing his recording with the very best. That same year, the 17-year-old pianist Jan Schulmeister came away from Texas with third prize at the prestigious Cliburn Junior Competition. And also that year, the Matejca - Schulmeister duo celebrated victory in the chamber music category at the competition Concertino Praga; that opened them the door to the studio for the making of this recording. Instead of brilliant, virtuosic show pieces, the young artists chose challenging Czech repertoire of the 20th century with pivotal works by Suk, Martinu, and Lubos Fiser. Martinu composed his Czech Rhapsody in the USA just after the end of the Second World War for Fritz Kreisler, who was 70 years old by then. Even today, this beautiful composition is a great technical challenge for the soloist. Martinu's First Violin Sonata (1929) still belongs to the composer's Paris period, as can be seen from jazz elements and the sometimes impressionistic mood of the piano part. The third composer, Lubos Fiser, is known mainly in his homeland, but his music also earned international awards (UNESCO prize, Prix d'Italia). His violin sonata The Hands was originally supposed to have been titled Crux, but that was completely unacceptable during the period of harsh communist rule. In the words of Ivan straus, who premiered the sonata, "the composition could be interpreted as a loose depiction of the Stations of the Cross at Easter with dramatic moments of whipping, hatred, and anxiety followed by a funeral procession (pizzicato) and then the glorious Resurrection in the concluding apotheosis to the sound of bells."

Novak's complete quartets for the first time in the anointed hands of the Stamic Quartet For an impressive forty years, the Stamic Quartet (established in 1985) have been enjoying countless international successes both in concert performances and studio recordings. Just during the last fifteen years, the Supraphon label has released albums of the ensemble featuring the first recordings of the complete works for string quartet by J. B. Foerster (2010), Sofia Gubaidulina (2012), and Karel Kovarovic (2019). For the Stamic Quartet's fortieth anniversary, they have recorded this complete set of Vitezslav Novak's quartets, which also definitely completes the ensemble's remarkable list of recordings. Nearly forty years separate the First Quartet by Dvorak's 29-year-old pupil, inspired by the countryside of Moravia and Slovakia and by folk music, from the Third Quartet, with it's anxious premonitions of war. The works demonstrate a considerable stylistic shift in the composer's musical language. From the foundations of the musical traditions of Romanticism, through inspiration from Moravian and Slovak folklore, Novak arrived at a personal style with integral components including the church modes, the sonic world of Impressionism, a polyphonic sensibility for musical structure (as is clear from the extensive fugue of the Second Quartet), and rhythmic richness. The experienced Stamic Quartet is the first ensemble to record Novak's complete quartets, and it has done so with commitment that would be the envy of many young ensembles.

Alois Haba has gone down in the history of 20th-century music as an experimenter. He studied in Vienna and Berlin under Franz Schreker, studied the tonal principles of non-European music, and developed his own theory of micro-intervallic music. However, his enthusiasm for microtonal music narrowed the perception of his creative legacy solely to it's experimental component, although more than half of his works are compositions in the usual system of semitones. As he himself said, he was trying "to find the path from non-traditional training to artistically independent creative work with strongly altered harmony and melody in order to arrive at a personal means of expression following the line leading from Bach to Schumann and on to Reger." He achieved this goal in the Sonata, Op. 3, for which he received much praise from Schreker, while Vitezslav Novak "with condescending humour called it a 'sonata for three hands'". Erwin Schulhoff premiered the Two Grotesque Pieces in 1922 in Berlin alongside compositions by Satie, Casella, and Stravinsky, and according to a critic, "Haba's compositions made a far more authentic impression than much that surrounded them." After the Toccata quasi una fantasia (1931), Haba returned to writing piano music one last time 40 years later at the end of his life with his Six Moods. As a student in Vienna and Ghent, the pianist Miroslav Beinhauer focused on music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He was introduced to Haba through his compositions for sixth-tone harmonium (Beinhauer is the only player of this instrument, created by Haba), and he went on to study Haba's complete works for "ordinary" piano as well. These works are little known and worthy of attention. The first complete recording of Haba's works for "ordinary" piano. Haba surprisingly without micro-intervals

The unmistakable bass of Tomas Selc at the service of Jan Dismas Zelenka Tomas Selc devotes himself to the cantata and oratorio literature of the 18th through the 20th centuries, romantic lieder, and opera, collaborating with outstanding orchestras, ensembles, and conductors (Bamberger Symphoniker, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Collegium 1704, Collegium Vocale Gent, Taverner Consort etc.). It is, however, in the works of Jan Dismas Zelenka and of J. S. Bach that he seems to be most at home. Therefore, the choice of Zelenka for his Supraphon debut was clear, as was his collaboration with the renowned ensemble Collegium Marianum. The album presents three of Zelenka's great liturgical works for bass, composed in the milieu of the Dresden court ensemble within a span of seven years. The masterfully invoked atmosphere of gloom of the first Lamentation of Jeremiah (1722) for the Tenebrae liturgy, dignified praise of the Lord in the psalm Confitebor tibi Domine (1729), and pleading cries from this world's vale of tears in the Marian antiphon Salve Regina (1724) are brought to us with all their urgency by the silky colour of selc's voice. The Flute Concerto by Giuseppe Tartini reminds us that it is not only from the depths of darkness that we cry out; heights of gentle consolation are truly within reach as well. Those heights resound here in the tender and colourful tones of the flute played by Jana Semeradova, driving the clouds away and brings smiles to our faces. Depths of darkness and radiant lightness of being are two inseparable dimensions of life on this earth.

Tuma was a renowned mid-18th-century Vienna musical figure. He was primarily lauded for his sacred works, written either in the strict polyphonic stile antico or in the more modern figural style. The current album, a new instalment in Czech Ensemble Baroque's series of Tuma recordings, focuses on specific types of liturgical pieces from the composer's later creative period. The lustre of the vespers and litanies (Vesperae de confessore, Litaniae Reginae martyrum), designated for performance on major feast days, is enhanced by natural trumpets and timpani. The album includes one of Tuma's eight surviving settings of the famous medieval sequence Stabat Mater. Furthermore, the composer wrote a great many instrumental pieces in which he applied elements of the modern galant style, while also embracing techniques characteristic of Italian and French music. The grandiose and lavishly instrumented Ouverture in C contrasts starkly with the more modest Sinfonia in d, based on the Neapolitan opera sinfonia, and the Partita in g, which, just like Stabat Mater, have survived within a music collection in Vienna. The pieces Tuma wrote during his late creative phase provide ample proof of his compositional mastery and ability to blend the old and new stylistic trends, with the result being remarkable sacred and instrumental music. With the exception of Stabat Mater, Czech Ensemble Baroque present all the works featured on this album in modern-day premiere. Tuma's meridian sacred and instrumental pieces - more gems in modern-day premiere

Within a mere few years, Petr Popelka has established himself as one of the world's most exciting young conductors. Serving as principal conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Wiener Symphoniker, he has also appeared as a guest with prominent European and American orchestras, as well as at opera houses worldwide. Popelka does not view Bedrich Smetana's legacy as an obligatory Czech national classic, but rather as an object of love and vital artistic quest. "His ultimate masterpiece, My Country, should be approached a bit like an opera, as a great story... As a cycle of tone poems based on the theme of the homeland, it is absolutely unique in the history of music. Most significantly, there is not a work written with greater love." Popelka's recording is not just yet another addition to the immense number of recordings of My Country. Bringing to bear his great musicality and acute sense of detail, the conductor and the orchestra have modelled a truly exceptional form. Popelka's album features other germs too. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, "From My Life", hailing from Smetana's mature period, when the composer was completely deaf, in George Szell's brilliant orchestration. In contrast, Smetana's early music is represented by the Triumphal Symphony, dedicated to the wedding of the 24-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph I to Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria, and three "Swedish" Liszt-inspired symphonic poems, based on dramas as immense as Shakespeare's Richard III and Schiller's Wallenstein. The extraordinary album marks the 200th anniversary of Smetana's birth. Lovers of spatial sound will certainly relish streaming My Country in the Dolby Atmos format. Petr Popelka conducts Smetana - with love, deep feeling and sense for detail

... Storace gave a quartet party to his friends. The players were tolerable, not one of them excelled on the instrument he played; but there was a little science among them, which I dare say will be acknowledged when I name them: First violin Haydn, second violin Baron Dittersdorf, violoncello Vanhal, viola Mozart... The tenor Michael Kelly's recollection of that musical evening in 1784 in Vienna has been the source of much speculation by musicologists, and it is also one of the things that inspired this recording. The four composers, all highly acclaimed in their day, met in multiethnic Vienna, and they shared the bond of friendship. While Mozart behaved towards Haydn with respect like that of a pupil towards a master and dedicated a series of six string quartets to him (including the "Dissonant Quartet" in C major), Haydn told Mozart's father that his son was "the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name." Dittersdorf was likewise unsparing with superlatives in his autobiography: "He is undoubtedly one of the greatest original geniuses, and I have never before known any composer with such an amazing wealth of ideas." The names of Dittersdorf and Vanhal are familiar to some, but few have encountered their music. This recording offers an opportunity to discover those nearly forgotten masters' works superbly interpreted by the Bennewitz Quartet. The enthusiastic acclaim of international critics for their previous Haydn album is affirmation of their extraordinary quality in this repertoire. More remarkable discoveries from the hand of the Bennewitz Quartet

Today, Katerina Knezikova is a well-known name in the world of opera (Glyndebourne) and on concert stages (BBC SO, Bamberger Symphoniker, Czech Philharmonic, LPO, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, RLPO etc.). After her album Phidyle, which attracted considerable critical attention (Gramophone Editor's Choice, BBC Music Magazine Award), she let herself be carried away by the world of Richard Strauss's songs, full of micro-dramas, transparent emotions, and deep intimacy. Her partner and guide on this journey is Jakub Hrusa with the Bamberger Symphoniker in an enchanting live performance of the Four Last Songs, and- surprisingly for many-also in the supremely intimate world of songs with piano. The sensitive Lieder selection covers Strauss's entire career spanning nearly 70 years. The composer's songs bear the impressions of major events of his whole life and the atmosphere of his times, leading to the themes of parting and death heard in his Four Last Songs. Each of the songs is a perfectly polished gem, the beauty of which is enhanced by the extraordinarily harmonious interplay of the two artists. The Songs of Richard Strauss - perfectly polished gems

Won't nearly an hour and three quarters of music for violin and piano by the same composer be too monotonous? No it won't because it is Dvorak... Dvorak never repeated himself; in every work, he created a different musical world. It would be hard to find another composer capable of such diversity within a single musical genre. After the earliest of the pieces, the Romance, he sent his publisher Simrock the Mazurek, which he dedicated to the Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate. The almost meditative Nocturne first appeared in a string quartet and then a quintet before being heard for the first time as an independent piece in arrangements including one for violin and piano. The Violin Sonata in F major, a chamber music pendant to Dvorak's Violin Concerto, clearly took inspiration from Brahms's First Violin Sonata. And there is more: the virtuosic Capriccio, the haunting Romantic Pieces, the Slavonic Dance No. 2 presented here uniquely in the composer's own arrangement, the delightful Humoresque arranged by Fritz Kreisler... and a work bearing the opus number 100, which Dvorak deliberately reserved for his Sonatina dedicated to two of his children; though simple, it is no less individual than any of the composer's other mature opuses. To sum it all up, this is a unique collection of Dvorak's complete works for violin and piano recorded by the virtuoso Jiri Vodicka, concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic, sensitively accompanied by David Marecek at the piano. The recording is enhanced by the beautiful acoustics of the Rudolfinum's Dvorak Hall in Prague. Dvorak for violin and piano. A new world of music in every composition.

Amongst the works of Bedřich Smetana, operas are at the forefront alongside the cycle of symphonic poems Má vlast as the linchpins of the composer’s creative legacy. Nine operas in all, the last being unfinished, demonstrate the composer’s dramatic talent and individuality.

The history of the Supraphon label has seen the making of a series of Smetana opera recordings interpreted by generations of Czech singers who performed mainly on the stage of the Prague National Theater. The first and only time Smetana’s operas were published as a complete set on record by Supraphon was within a vast four-part project covering his complete works released in the Year of Czech Music between 1984 and 1985. This representative set contained the recordings dating from the 1960s through the 1980s, but with the exception of The Bartered Bride, they are not currently available on the market as physical products.

To the still unsurpassed recording of The Bartered Bride and The Secret under the baton of Zdenek Košler, we are adding his exceptional 1983 production of Libuše for the reopening of the Prague National Theater. We are also including the only Supraphon recording of The Brandenburgers in Bohemia led by Jan Hus Tichý, Zdenek Chalabala’s still definitive reading of The Devil’s Wall, and Dalibor conducted by Jaroslav Krombholc.

This luxurious 17CD box contains seven separately packaged 2-CD sets plus one 3-CD set with detailed information about the individual operas, a 40-page booklet with a comprehensive study, a wealth of photographic documentation, and a link to the downloadable librettos in the Czech and English languages. This complete edition of Smetana’s operas is for the first time on CD, as we mark the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Smetana’s birth.

CONTENTS:

— The Brandenburgers in Bohemia

— The Bartered Bride

— Dalibor

— Libuše

— The Two Widows

— The Kiss

— The Secret

— Viola

— The Devil's Wall

How can an artist move forward and keep finding new ways of creativity and not stagnate? This question is as old as art itself but those who search can make a discovery. Such musicians whose every album develops the never-ending story of searching and discovering are undoubtedly the Prague-based Clarinet Factory. This internationally renowned ensemble, which has redefined the approach to and use of clarinets, has written another chapter of it's fascinating exploration on it's new record, Towers. In comparison with their previous album, Pipers (2020), they now put more emphasis on instrumentals, so the first single, Obloha seda (The Grey Sky), is one of only two songs with lyrics on this record. The main role is played by clarinets, drums and loopers while the human voice is often used as an instrument or as ambient sound. The resulting sound of the album is largely contributed to by their guest, Beata Hlavenkova, who conjures up many distinct and colourful layers on the piano and Fender Rhodes. Besides Beata Hlavenkova and the quartet of Ludek Boura, Vojtech N�dl, Jindrich Pavlis and Petr Valasek, another important figure is Milan Cimfe of the SONO Records Studio, who collaborated with the Clarinet Factory on Pipers and who is in charge of the drums, samples and other electronics on the new record. Other guests include drummer Daniel soltis, who has collaborated with the ensemble for many years. Towers is another important item (not only) in the Clarinet Factory discography. It's multiple layers are a joy to discover with every listening. The album is released only in digital formats and as a three-side double LP, whose graphical design was created by the renowned artist, Pavel Fuksa. / The Clarinet Factory have written another chapter of their remarkable exploration of the world of sounds

He took up the lute when he was young and became such a virtuoso that he was unrivalled in France or Italy. Music historian Gottfried Johann Dlabac�'s testimony describes the lutenist and composer, Count Jan Antonin Losy of Losinthal, whose family came from Lombardy. He was born in Bohemia, where he spent most of his life, but his fame spread throughout Europe. After he died, he was honoured by his younger colleague, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, who memorialised him with his famous Tombeau. Nowadays, the name of the Count and virtuoso musician (besides the lute, he played the harpsichord and violin superbly) is known especially to lute players. However, even they may be surprised to learn that this album contains compositions with harpsichord, flute and violin. In fact, Losy's oeuvre is far more varied. According to period sources, many of his compositions were played by chamber ensembles including instruments, such as the violin and a bowed bass instrument. The main performer, Jan Ci�mar, reconstructed some of them, using manuscripts scattered all over Europe, and invited his colleagues from the Polish ensemble, Orkiestra historyczna, to take part in the recording. The result is a revealing album that presents Losy's lute pieces in an unusual sound version for the first time. Count Losy - a Prince among lutenists

The story of the Prague Symphony Orchestra is closely related to the history of the Czech capital, which leaves an impression on their repertoire. After their successful recording of Karel Husa’s Music for Prague 1968 (Supraphon, 2021), the orchestra and its chief conductor are coming up with another album dedicated to Prague. This time, the program is focused on the late 19th century, i.e. the period when the Czech nation fought for its language, culture, and identity within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The backbone of the record is Suk’s monumental symphonic poem Praga, based on the Hussite chorale, “Ktož jsú Boží bojovníci” (Ye Who Are Warriors of God); Vyšehrad from Smetana’s famous cycle Má vlast (My Country); and a rarity: Pohádka o Šemíku (A Tale of Šemík), which is a largely unknown symphonic poem based on an ancient Czech legend connected with Vyšehrad, by Otakar Ostrcil, composed when he was nineteen. And of course, there is Antonín Dvorák. In hardly any work of his is Dvorák as explicitly patriotic as in his overture My Home (which is not very well known either). It is based on the theme of the popular song “Kde domov muj,” which later became the Czech national anthem. Another rarity of this album is Dvorák’s fanfare for the opening of the National Jubilee Exhibition in Prague. After their acclaimed recording of the composer’s Slavonic Dances, the Prague Symphony Orchestra confirm that the Czech repertoire of late Romanticism is their native and most natural language. The romantic and legendary city of Prague on a record of the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

The centenary of the birth of Viktor Kalabis (1923–2006), a major 20th-century Czech composer, is worthy of attention. The previous Supraphon album, Symphonies & Concertos (SU 4109-2), mapping his mature and late works, met with critical acclaim (Gramophone Choice / Reissue of the Month, Choc de Classica). Much of Kalabis’s early output, however, is yet to be discovered. The present recording, containing three pieces dating from between 1948 and 1951, attests to the young composer’s remarkable maturity. In the Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 3 (1948), Kalabis paid tribute to Igor Stravinsky, a great idol of his, with the concerto grosso form and instrumentation referring to Dumbarton Oaks. The impressive brief overture Youth, Op. 7 (1950), demonstrates the composer’s brilliant mastery of large symphony orchestra. The surprising dark colours in the work may reflect the difficult period of the Communist dictatorship’s ascent. The neo-folk Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 8 (1951), reveals Kalabis’s Dvorák, Bartók, Hindemith and late symphonic Martinu inspirations. Youthful dynamic energy and intimations of future weighty profundity characterise Kalabis’s early music. Three decades later, the composer recorded his early pieces, conducting the Janácek Philharmonic Ostrava. The present album thus affords the opportunity to listen to their authentic performance.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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