Smetana: Symphonic Works

$48.99
Label
Supraphon
Release Date
February 14, 2025
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      Bedrich Smetana
    • PERFORMER
      Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      February 14, 2025
    • UPC
      099925434724
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      SU4347-2
    • LABEL
      Supraphon
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      3
    • GENRE
      Orchestral & Symphonic
    Works ⌄

    1. Richard III, Op. 11

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    2. Valdštýnuv tábor (Wallensteins Lager, Wallenstein's Camp), Op. 14

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    3. Hakon Jarl, Op. 16

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Ladislav Zámečník, Lydie Hartelova

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    4. I. Allegro vivo appassionato

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    5. II. Alla polka

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    6. III. Largo sostenuto

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Pavel Ludvík

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    7. IV. Vivace - Meno mosso

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    8. I. Allegro vivace

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    9. II. Largo maestoso

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    10. III. Scherzo: Allegro vivo - Trio: Allegro moderato

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    11. IV. Finale: Allegro non troppo ma energico

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    12. No. 1. Vyšehrad (The High Castle)

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    13. No. 2. Vltava (Moldau)

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    14. No. 3. Šárka

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    15. No. 4. Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia's Woods and Fields)

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    16. No. 5. Tábor

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Petr Popelka

    17. No. 6. Blaník

      Composer: Bedřich Smetana

      Ensemble: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Jana Švadlenková, Zdeněk Rys

      Conductor: Petr Popelka


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