Prague of Charles IV

Prague has always been regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The name ‘Cor Europae’ (Heart of Europe) probably dates from the country’s early history, in the thirteenth century, when the Kingdom of Bohemia stretched from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. This was a period of great prosperity, especially under King Wenceslaus II Přemyslid, and culminated with the reign of Charles IV, who was both King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor. Despite the fact that Bohemia was the centre of Europe and benefited from the presence of many scholars (more especially after the foundation of the university in 1348), the local culture also preserved an older tradition there. This can be seen in the beautiful repertory for the Advent and Christmas period that have survived in the sources of Prague Cathedral and the Benedictine abbey of Prague Castle. These sources make it possible to reconstruct the liturgy of the Feast of the Nativity as it was celebrated there, with organa and tropes in the tradition of twelfth-century music, at a time when the new Ars Nova style was flourishing elsewhere in Europe. It is this music that the wonderful voices of the Tiburtina Ensemble bring to life for us.

Musical scholar that he is, Charles Mackerras adopts period performance practice, but opts for modern instruments. The Prague Chamber Orchestra is one of the world's best small ensembles. They play this music with impeccable wit, sophistication, and style. Of course, Mackerras himself studied in Prague–Mozart's musical home away from home–and has long enjoyed an excellent relationship with the city's orchestras and musicians. With swift tempos, employment of a harpsichord accompaniment, and all the repeats taken in each work, these finely honed interpretations offer a uniquely consistent view of Mozart's symphonic achievement. Telarc's superb sound allows the music to fall very gratefully on the ear.

The Prague Chamber Orchestra contributes some very good string playing to this Mozart reading by Sir Charles Mackerras. The approach is modern but well informed, with clean, light, agile, and luminous results. Mackerras observes the repeats (including that of the first movement recapitulation) and chooses excellent tempos. The Romance is especially lovely. Telarc's recording yields a fairly realistic concert-hall perspective, but the distant pickup and reverberation tend to muddy the texture a little. The coupling is an excellent account of the Posthorn Serenade.

As well as Sir Charles's first recording of Janácek's Sinfonietta, this 5-CD set also showcases him performing the music of other composers whose music he was particularly famed for the world over.

Highly impressed by the Moravian Duets, even though the set had yet to be issued, the Berlin-based publisher Fritz Simrock wrote to the young Antonín Dvořák, commissioning from him another work and outlining his idea of its being in the fashion of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances. The composer duly sketched the first series of Slavonic Dances within a few hours, and completed the version for piano four hands in three weeks.

The series of Janacek's operas conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras for Decca has become one of the most exciting gramophone projects of the day, with each issue a major event. The new digital recording of the last opera he composed, From the House of the Dead, is no exception: indeed, for reasons that lie beyond the excellence of performance and recording, and also lie apart from the fact that here is the first version to appear for nearly eight years, this is an historic occasion, a significant contribution to musical knowledge.