Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra - Smetana: Symphonic Works - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

This is the first recording of Richards, Fowkes opus 16. It is located in Goodson Chapel at the Duke University Divinity School. The chapel space presents a warm acoustical environment, allowing the organ to project a solid but unforced sound. The new organ is a gem among the extraordinary collection of organs at Duke. InchYuko Hayashi (1929-2018) taught me how to reach graciously into the hearts of listeners. She taught me how touch could shape a phrase, how variety in attack and could make the organ Inchspeak,Inch how to manage wind, how to make a room seem larger and more reverberant.Inch (Christa Rakich) Christa Rakich is Visiting Professor of Organ at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. As a Fulbright Scholar, she studied for two years with Anton Heiller in Vienna. She has served on the faculty of the New England Conservatory, Westminster Choir College, Brandeis University, and the University of Connecticut. A prize winner in numerous international organ competitions, Rakich has received particular acclaim for her interpretations of the music of J.S. Bach.

And the sculptor fixes the likeness of a face in clay. And you walked by and passed before his work, and you glanced at the face and then walked on your way. And then it happened that you were not quite the same. Slightly changed, but changed. The motto Bohuslav Martinu chose from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Citadelle for one of his Parables also poetically defines the transformational power of his final orchestral opuses. Following the six symphonies composed in the USA, he wrote them in Europe, much closer to his homeland. The orchestral triptych Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca was inspired by the work of the Italian Renaissance master. As Martinu himself put it InchThe frescoes harbor a peculiar kind of solemn and rigid tranquility, abounding in strange, serene and moving poetry; it is the darkened colored atmosphere I strove to express in music.Inch The Parables is another piece in which Martinu reflected his philosophical ideas, with each of it's three movements treating an allegory of life and human quest in the world. The symphonic prelude The Rock refers to the landing place of the English settlers who came to North America in 1619, as well as Martinu's own fate as a homeless pilgrim. Martinu's very last symphonic work, Estampes, comes across more as a fine drawing interwoven with silence than an impasto, as is the case of his previous orchestral pieces. These brilliant, extraordinary Martinu works are yet to gain the recognition they so richly deserve. The new Supraphon recording, made by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under the renowned conductor Tomáš Netopil, affords hope that this will be set right. It would be a pity to miss out on such beauty. Bohuslav Martinu's late pinnacles - beauty and profundity yet to be discovered.

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 it's 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 it's 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, InchKtož jsú Boží bojovníciInch (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 InchKde domov muj,Inch 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.