Bedřich Smetana; Leoš Janáček - Symphonic Poems; Sinfonietta (Rafael Kubelík)

Information

Composer: Bedřich Smetana; Leoš Janáček

• Smetana - Richard III, symphonic poem, JB 1/70, Op. 11
• Smetana - Valdštýnův tábor (Wallenstein's Camp), symphonic poem, JB 1/72, Op. 14
• Smetana - Hakon Jarl, symphonic poem, JB 1/79, Op. 16
• Smetana - Pražský karneval (Prague Carnival), introduction and polonaise in A minor, JB 1/126
• Janáček - Sinfonietta ("Military", "Sokol Festival"), JW 6/18

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Rafael Kubelík, conductor

Date: 1971; 1970

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

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Bedřich Smetana (2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. The basic materials from which Smetana fashioned his art, according to Newmarch, were nationalism, realism and romanticism. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his opera The Bartered Bride and for the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My Homeland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native land.

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Leoš Janáček (3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, one of the most important exponents of musical nationalism of the 20th century. He studied at the Prague, Leipzig, and Vienna conservatories. His earlier works was influenced by contemporaries such as Dvořák, but later he began to incorporate his studies of national folk music and language to create a highly original synthesis. Janáček's later works, which are his most celebrated, include operas Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen, the Sinfonietta, the Glagolitic Mass, the rhapsody Taras Bulba, two string quartets, and other chamber works.

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Rafael Kubelík (29 June 1914 – 11 August 1996) was a Czech-born conductor and composer. Kubelík was music director of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (1941–48), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1950–53), The Royal Opera, Covent Garden (1955–58), and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1961–79). He was also a frequent guest conductor for leading orchestras in Europe and America. Kubelík's complete discography is enormous, with complete cycles of Beethoven, Brahms, Dvořák, and Mahler symphonies. As a composer, Kubelík wrote 5 operas, 3 symphonies, chamber music, choral works, and songs.

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