Czech

Magdalena Kožená, Simon Rattle, Czech Philharmonic - Folk Songs: Bartók, Berio, Ravel, Montsalvatge (2023)

Magdalena Kožená, Simon Rattle, Czech Philharmonic - Folk Songs: Bartók, Berio, Ravel, Montsalvatge (2023)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 189 Mb | Total time: 53:03 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Pentatone | # PTC5187075 | Recorded: 2020, 2022, 2023

Magdalena Kozena's fourth Pentatone album Folk Songs brings together folk-inspired song cycles from across the globe. Ranging from Berio's Folk Songs to sets by Bartok, Ravel and Montsalvatge, this collection provides a kaleidoscope of twentieth-century orchestral song composition. Kozena performs them together with the Czech Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Folk Songs is star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena's fourth album as part of her exclusive collaboration with Pentatone, after having presented the baroque cantatas recital album Il giardino dei sospiri and the songs in chamber-musical setting project Soiree in 2019, as well as Nostalgia together with Yefim Bronfman in 2021.
Czech Philharmonic & Semyon Bychkov - Smetana: Má Vlast (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Czech Philharmonic & Semyon Bychkov - Smetana: Má Vlast (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Front Cover | Time - 81:47 minutes | 1,4 GB
Classical | Label: Pentatone, Official Digital Download

The Czech Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov present a new recording of Bedřich Smetana’s masterpiece Má vlast (My Homeland). The album celebrates both the bicentenary of Smetana’s birth and, the start of 2024’s Year of Czech Music which has been celebrated every ten years since Smetana’s 100th anniversary in 1924. Má vlast (1874-1878) is a potent symbol of the Czech Republic’s turbulent political history and has played an important role in the Czech national movement.

Czech Philharmonic & Semyon Bychkov - Smetana: Má Vlast (2024)  Music

Posted by delpotro at Feb. 29, 2024
Czech Philharmonic & Semyon Bychkov - Smetana: Má Vlast (2024)

Czech Philharmonic & Semyon Bychkov - Smetana: Má Vlast (2024)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 332 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 188 Mb | 01:21:47
Classical | Label: Pentatone

The Czech Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov present a new recording of Bedřich Smetana’s masterpiece Má vlast (My Homeland). The album celebrates both the bicentenary of Smetana’s birth and, the start of 2024’s Year of Czech Music which has been celebrated every ten years since Smetana’s 100th anniversary in 1924. Má vlast (1874-1878) is a potent symbol of the Czech Republic’s turbulent political history and has played an important role in the Czech national movement. Contemplating the landscape, history, and legends of Bohemia, Má vlast is best known for its world-famous Moldau melody. For Bychkov, who was born in Russia before emigrating to the United States, and now lives in France, the question of ‘the homeland’ is particularly poignant – how to take pride in the best of its heritage, while also coming to terms with its darker pages. For the Orchestra to revisit this seminal piece with Bychkov, with whom it has developed such a close working relationship over the past few years, makes the recording all the more personal and topical.
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ančerl - Karel Ančerl (Live Recordings) (2022)

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ančerl - Karel Ančerl (Live Recordings) (2022)
WEB FLAC (Tracks) 3,21 GB | Cover +Digital Booklet | 18:32:43 | MP3 CBR 320 kbps | 2,49 GB
Classical | Label: Supraphon a.s.

Karel Ančerl was one of the most distinguished conductors in post-war Europe. A survivor of Nazi concentration camps, as well as the openly anti-Jewish policy of Communist Czechoslovakia. An artist who through his limitless patience and diligence transformed the Czech Philharmonic into a world-class orchestra and brought them to the most prominent concert venues all over the globe. Supraphon released the major part of Ančerl’s legacy, the complete studio recordings he made with the Czech Philharmonic, between 2002 and 2008 within the highly acclaimed 48-album Ančerl Gold Edition. Yet the Czech Radio archives maintain numerous recordings of live Czech Philharmonic concerts Ančerl conducted, which complete the picture of the exceptional figure.
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ancerl - Leos Janacek: Sinfonietta; Taras Bulba (1963) Reissue

Leoš Janáček: Sinfonietta; Taras Bulba (1963) Reissue
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Karel Ančerl, conductor

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 268 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 145 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Fidelio | # 1852 | Time: 00:44:24

Karel Ancerl’s incomparable recording of Janácek’s resplendently barbaric Sinfonietta remains not only the finest available version of the work, but also is the best recorded … Although it was captured as long ago as 1961, no other version so effectively conveys the panoramic splendor of the trumpet-led opening across the stereo spectrum, no other offers such clarity in passages such as the finale’s hair-raising wind writing, and no other balances the orchestra against the massed brass of the closing pages so naturally and cleanly. Technically it’s quite an achievement …
Semyon Bychkov, Czech Philharmonic - Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.5 (2022)

Semyon Bychkov, Czech Philharmonic - Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.5 (2022)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 302 Mb | Total time: 71:44 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Pentatone | # PTC 5187 021 | Recorded: 2021

After their critically-acclaimed recording of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov continue their Pentatone Mahler cycle with a rendition of the composer’s Fifth. The Fifth Symphony marks an important turning point in Mahler’s symphonic output, away from the prominence of vocal movements in his previous symphonies. And whereas the Fifth seems to follow a teleology from darkness to light like its predecessors, the trajectory is much less straightforward, and full of enigmatic turns. Bychkov’s exceptional eye for detail and pacing make him an ideal guide through this work, while the Czech Philharmonic is capable of letting all the colours of Mahler’s score shine.
Czech PO, Sir Charles Mackerras - Josef Suk: Summer Tale, Op.29; Fantastic Scherzo, Op.25 (1999) [Re-Up]

Josef Suk - Summer Tale, Op.29; Fantastic Scherzo, Op.25 (1999)
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 230 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 151 Mb | Scans ~ 62 Mb
Genre: Classical | Label: Decca | # 466 443-2 | Time: 01:05:33

The steady increase in recordings of his music has now established Suk as one of the great musical poets of the early 20th century. Too much is made of his affinities with his teacher and father-in-law, Dvorák; for his own part, Dvorák never imposed his personality on his pupils and Suk's mature music owes him little more than a respect for craft and an extraordinarily well developed ear for orchestral colour. His affinities in the five-movement A Summer's Tale, completed in 1909 – a magnificent successor to his profound Asrael Symphony – reflect Debussy and parallel the music of his friend Sibelius and Holst, but underpinning the musical language is a profound originality energising both form and timbre. Mackerras's recording joins a select band: Šejna's vintage performance on Supraphon and Pešek's inspired rendition with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; his is an equal to them both and the Czech Philharmonic's playing is both aspiring and inspiring. While their reading is suffused with a feeling for the work's myriad orchestral colours, they recognise that Suk's music is much more than atmosphere. In particular they excel in their handling of the drama and overwhelming emotional urgency of this remarkable, big-boned symphonic poem.
Czech Philharmonic; Prague Philharmonic Choir; Jiri Belohlavek - Antonin Dvorak: Stabat Mater, Op.58 (2017) 2CDs

Antonín Dvořák: Stabat Mater, Op.58 (2017) 2CDs
Eri Nakamura, soprano; Elisabeth Kulman, mezzo; Michael Spyres, tenor; Jongmin Park, bass
Czech Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonic Choir, Jiří Bělohlávek, conductor

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 328 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 193 Mb | Artwork included
Classical, Choral | Label: Decca | # 483 1510 DH | 01:23:02

Antonín Dvorák's Stabat Mater, Op. 58, truly merits the adjective "tragic"; it was written after the deaths of two of the composer's children in succession, and his grief rolled out in great, Verdian waves. There are several strong recordings on the market, including an earlier one by conductor Jiří Bělohlávek himself, but for the combination of deep feeling, technical mastery from musicians and singers who have spent their lives getting to know the score, and soloists who not only sound beautiful but are seamlessly integrated into the flow, this Decca release may be the king of them all. To what extent was the strength of the performance motivated by Bělohlávek's likely fatal illness (he died days after the album entered the top levels of classical charts in the spring of 2017)? It's hard to say, although he also delivered top-notch performances of Dvorák's Requiem in his last days. The members of the Prague Philharmonic Choir sing their hearts out in the gigantic, shattering opening chorus, which has rarely if ever had such a mixture of the impassioned and the perfectly controlled. Sample the chorus "Virgo virginium praeclara" to hear the magically suspended quality Bělohlávek brings out of the singers in lightly accompanied passages.
Czech National Symphony Orchestra - New Jewish Music, Vol. 1:  Azrieli Music Prizes (2018) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Czech National Symphony Orchestra & Steven Mercurio - New Jewish Music, Vol. 1: Azrieli Music Prizes (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Front Cover | Time - 72:30 minutes | 1,28 GB
Classical | Label: Analekta, Official Digital Download

Canadian composer Brian Current’s The Seven Heavenly Halls is the result of his being declared winner of the inaugural Azrieli Commission in September 2015. The work premiered on October 19, 2016 at the Maison symphonique by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal with tenor Frederic Antoun as soloist and Kent Nagano conducting.
Luka Sulic & Czech Studio Orchestra - Life (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Luka Sulic & Czech Studio Orchestra - Life (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Front Cover | Time - 39:12 minutes | 749 MB
Classical | Label: Platoon, Official Digital Download

In 2022, Luka Sulic, the virtuoso cellist renowned for his dynamic blend of classical and crossover solo performances, as well as his role in the global sensation 2Cellos, took a bold step back from the whirlwind of touring. This hiatus, driven by a quest for creativity and a newfound focus on family life (marked by the arrival of his fourth child), set the stage for an awe-inspiring return to his compositional roots.