Classical Music

Classical Music

This documentary reveals the renowned composer from a new angle, showing him to be a man of strang character, a sensitive, erudite patriot, and a man whose talent elevated him from his humble beginnings to the highest pinnacles of world fame.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Folk songs are evidently one of the seminal sources of inspiration that Bohuslav Martinu drew upon in his music. The composer would take Su�il's extensive collection of traditional Moravian songs along with him wherever he travelled. The texts from the volume were used for the majority of the Songs on One Page, Songs on Two Pages and The New Chapbook. Just as Dvor�k had done in his Moravian Duets, so Martinu conceived his own tunes and accompaniment, yet his having been profoundly impacted by folk music, it's rhythm, melody and harmonic techniques is palpable. Created in the early 1940s, in the middle of World War II, during the composer's exile in the USA, the three song cycles represented for Martinu and his compatriots a connection with their beleaguered homeland. Jan Masaryk, a Czech diplomat and a skilled amateur pianist, often performed the songs together with the soprano Jarmila Novotn�, a MET soloist. Owing to their elliptical expression and modesty, the three cycles may serve as the clue to Martinu's late works. The New Slovak Songs constitute a unique piece in the composer's oeuvre; he himself had collected them during his visit to Slovakia in 1920 and subsequently wrote for them piano accompaniments. Three renowned artists, bearing an authentic relation to folk music and Martinu's work alike, have made a benchmark recording, in which they have succeeded in highlighting the songs' tender beauty. Bohuslav Martinu's songs - magnificent tiny pieces by a great master

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Musica Bohemica are celebrating their 40th anniversary, which is a fitting occasion to look back. The very first recording the ensemble made for Supraphon, the LP Drevo se hudbou od�v� (Wood Attired in Music), released back in 1979, features several forcible folk texts (Vandrovali hudci, Horelo srd�cko, etc.), to which the artistic director, Jaroslav Krcek, composed music with such sensitivity that many a listener still considers it folk tunes. The next Musica Bohemica album, Cesk� a moravsk� lidov� balady (Czech and Moravian Folk Ballads), includes traditional melodies in Krcek's arrangements, imbued with his singular signature and colourful instrumentation. Jaroslav Krcek also proved to be sure-footed when selecting the soloists; one would be hard pressed indeed to imagine better delivery. The anniversary album features pieces selected from the two early recordings, with some of them being released on CD for the very first time. The songs that have enchanted generations of Musica Bohemica listeners now come across in their full beauty. Musica Bohemica's anniversary commemorated with early recordings - a spell that does not wear off.

Classical Music