Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

The CD completes the Naxos survey of Talich’s great pre-war London recordings.

Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn

This CD is a must-have for everyone who wants to gain an awareness of Czech music, its most frequently performed and most frequently recorded compositions. A recording from an orchestra synonymous with the two great composers. And the conductor who introduced the Czech Philharmonic to the world. Smetana wrote Vltava less than two months before suddenly losing his hearing. It was an emphatic answer to the speculations that this tragic circumstance would put an end to his compositional career. The “Story of a Czech River” would become a symbol of everything Czech, a hymn celebrating the Czech land, the Czech nation and its traditions. On the other hand, Dvorák’s time in America, crowned by the triumph of Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”, clearly demonstrated the international quality of Czech music – the power of its heredity as well as the ability to reflect and co-create the development of music in the world. Smetana was at the birth of the “Czech music” phenomenon, while Dvorák ensured that this phenomenon became known worldwide. Karel Ancerl in turn succeeded in transforming the Czech Philharmonic into a world-renowned orchestra, an ensemble authentically and inimitably representing Czech music and musicality from New York to Tokyo.

Born in Odessa in 1908, David Oistrakh became one of the greatest violin legends of the 20th century. In 1946 Prague was among the first destinations of his post-war foreign tours. From that time on he would repeatedly return to the city as a violinist and conductor.

Owing to his technical mastery and exquisitely warm tone, Oistrakh became an insuperable interpreter of grand Romantic concerti. Serving as a case in point is Brahms’s Concerto in D major, a work of extreme technical difficulty, recorded in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Antonio Pedrotti.

Yet true mastery is frequently manifested on a seemingly simple Classicist repertoire; the lucid structure and straightforward melodiousness require of the performer stylistic purity as well as balance and culture of tone. These very qualities are characteristic of Oistrakh’s recording of Mozart’s third violin concerto and Beethoven’s Romance, Op. 50, which he made in 1954 with Karel Ancerl conducting the Czech Philharmonic, already as a world-renowned virtuoso.

For the purpose of this release, the legendary recordings have been remastered from the original tapes.

In 1950 Prague was the destination of the first-ever foreign trip of the then 35-year-old Russian genius pianist Sviatoslav Richter. He would subsequently visit the city on several more occasions. The recordings on this CD were made at the Rudolfinum within two weeks at the end of May and the beginning of June 1954. Richter is accompanied by the two finest Czech orchestras, conducted by two true legends – Václav Talich (nearing the end of his career) and Karel Ancerl (at the beginning of his tenure in the post of principal conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra).

Within such a short time, Richter had mastered Tchaikovsky’s impassioned concerto in B minor, Prokofiev’s purely Neoclassical concerto in D flat major, as well as Bach’s paramount Baroque and timeless first piano concerto. The fact that the Russian composers Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev found an ideal interpreter in perhaps the greatest legend among 20th-century pianists appears entirely logical. Yet the superb and sensitive performance of Bach’s piano (originally harpsichord) concerto serves to complete the picture of Richter’s genius and versatility. These qualities are showcased in our new, sensitively re-mastered version of the legendary recordings.

The common denominator of the recordings of these three virtuoso concertos is the name of the soloist. In 1932 František Hanták, still a student, was called up by Václav Talich to assume the post of first oboe of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Hanták was concurrently a member of Czech Nonet and later on also performed with the Czech Wind Quintet and the ground-breaking ensemble Ars rediviva. Following on from the previous CD comprising concertos by Mozart, Richard Strauss and Martinu (SU39552), this album features other gems from Hanták’s discography in Supraphon’s archives: the legendary 1951 recording of Kramár’s Concerto in F major, the “Haydn” concerto (with the yet to be clarified question of its authorship), with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and Mozart’s lovely Sinfonia concertante, K 297b, with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Václav Smetácek (1965). The first two concertos appear here for the first time on CD in a sensitively remastered version. If to today’s listener the recording technology of the 1950s and 1960s may seem to leave something to be desired, the performers’ sheer musicality and engagement certainly more than make up for it.

World Premiere recording of Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette.

Magdalena Kožená sings the title role of Juliette.

Sir Charles Mackerras’ final recording with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

On 11 December 2008 the sold-out Rudolfinum in Prague heard for the first time Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette, a work which ranks among Martinu’s most significant and which the composer himself highly esteemed. Martinu originally composed the opera Juliette in Czech. However, so as to ensure appropriate publicity for the work, he wanted – already armed with a French libretto – to place extracts from the most relevant scenes on French radio. Yet Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette (The Key to Dreams) was not broadcast on the radio and had to wait some 70 years for its first performance. This was entrusted to the safe hands of that most competent of conductors Sir Charles Mackerras, who has devoted a great part of his life to discovering Czech music and promoting it on world stages.

After experiencing Magdalena Kožená in the role of Juliette, it is hard to imagine another star singer in her place.

On this CD, Three Fragments is supplemented by the orchestral suite from the same opera, which sensitively treats the music of all three Acts and corresponds with the “dreamy logic” of the original.

Thanks to Martinu’s dreamily beautiful music and the remarkable engagement of all the interpreters, Sir Charle’s December leave-taking of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was transformed into a joint triumph.

This release completes the cycle of Schumann Symphonies performed by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster.