Rafael Kubelik Handel Water Music & Music For The Royal Fireworks

One of the most enduringly popular conductors to come out of Eastern Europe during the postwar era, Rafael Kubelik had the good fortune to outlive the communist Czech regime from which he exiled himself, and to return to his homeland a hero late in his career. Throughout his career, Kubelik was a very popular conductor, and a critical favorite as well on two continents, especially where late Romantic and modern works were concerned. The son of violinist Jan Kubelik (1880-1940), Rafael Kubelik studied at the Prague Conservatory with the intention of becoming a composer. He made his debut before the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at age 19, and in 1939 became the Music Director of the National Opera in Brno, Czechoslovakia. In 1941 he became the Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, a post he held until 1948. In 1948, with the establishment of a communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia, Kubelik left his homeland, and became an exile for the next 40 years.