Favorite Czech composers.

[schnittkease]

The following text has been adapted for GMG from Mark Morris' guide to Czech composers (as linked below).

The Czech Republic has had a remarkably long music history; Prague has been a major location of new musical ideas from the 18th century onwards, only recently eroded by Paris and the disruptions of WWII. The Czech musical tradition has been continued in the 20th century, and, like that of Hungary, is notable not just for internationally recognized composers, but for the quality and depth of its lesser figures, who, while never likely to achieve widespread attention, provide consistently satisfying and invigorating musical experiences little matched by countries of a similar size.

The folk music of Bohemia and Moravia has been especially rich and fruitful to 20th-century composers, the geographical sources of which are now divided by the Czech-Slovak border. Another lasting legacy of popular music has been the tradition (dating back to the 15th century) of the chorales of the Hussites, who believed in the power of song and vernacular languages in religious worship.

Modern Czech music can trace its sources to an extraordinary resurgence taking place in the second half of the 19th century, connected with the rise of Czech nationalism within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Composers from this era established an overall tone that is recognisably Czech, one which remains potent to this day: deeply rooted in the Czech and Slovakian landscapes, it is characterised by clarity and a joyful brightness; by a rhythmic surge and excitement of happiness, preferring the optimistic, and, even in tragic works, seeking the positive and the bright.

Immediately following this renaissance, however, Czech music was seriously disrupted by the German occupation (1939-45). A number of composers left their homeland while others were imprisoned or killed. Despite this, music-making continued, often with overtones of a nationalist resistance. In 1949, the establishment of communist rule in Czechoslovakia further separated Czech composers from European developments. They had to adapt to the demands of socialist realism while a younger generation, unaware of serial developments, continued a mainstream Czech tradition.

By the 1960s Czech music had fully caught up with European developments and synthesized them with their own practices.

Read more: http://www.musicweb-international.com/Mark_Morris/Czech_Republic.htm#ixzz4cOiavfnK


The Czech Republic has produced some truly remarkable composers. Who are your top ten favorite?

[vandermolen]

Novak
Martinu
Kalabis
Kabelac
Schulhoff
Haas
Janacek
Suk
J B Foerster
Dvorak

[aesthetic]

Martinů
Dvořák
Janáček
Smetana

[North Star]

Janáček
Dvořák
Martinů
Zelenka
Smetana
Suk
Haas
Schulhoff
Kabelac
Klein

(a poll done here years ago on the subject)

[Spineur]

Martinů
Janáček
Dvořák
Haas
Ullmann
Suk
Tomasek

Novak is Slovak

Not favorite
Smetana
Schulhoff

[Turner]

Janacek
Martinu
Dvorak
Jezek
Novak
Foerster
Suk
Smetana
Fiser
Klusak

Some more good ones:

Kalabis
Moyzes (Slovak)
Zelenka
Benda 1+2
Kopelent
Haba
Kozeluch
Rejcha
Valek
Kabelac
Krcek
Haas
Schulhoff
Klein
Kapralova

Etc

[vandermolen]

Janacek
Martinu
Dvorak
Jezek
Novak
Foerster
Suk
Smetana
Fiser
Klusak

Some more good ones:

Kalabis
Moyzes (Slovak)
Zelenka
Benda 1+2
Kopelent
Haba
Kozeluch
Rejcha
Valek
Kabelac
Krcek
Haas
Schulhoff
Klein
Kapralova

Etc

Agree about Moyzes - especially for the moving and eloquent 7th Symphony - in memory of his daughter. Like Suk's 'Asrael' it journeys through grief to hard-won acceptance - a fine work:
[asin]B00005N8E0[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Martinů
Janáček
Dvořák
Suk

This.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Janáček
Dvořák
Martinů
Zelenka
Smetana
Suk
Haas
Schulhoff
Kabelac
Klein

(a poll done here years ago on the subject)

Haas is Austrian! Not Czech!

I will have to think of some Czech composers i really like before I contribute. I realise the only ones I know are composers I barely ever listen to!

I will have to explore some more.

[North Star]

Haas is Austrian! Not Czech!

Pavel Haas.


https://www.youtube.com/v/Z0carGUfvLg

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Pavel Haas.


https://www.youtube.com/v/Z0carGUfvLg

Ohhh i see. I normally see information about G F Haas on the internet. I've never heard any P Haas.

[schnittkease]

Fišer has been on my list of composers to investigate for a while now; I suppose this is the time to get started. What works (or better yet CDs) would you recommend for a newcomer to his music? Seems like an interesting figure ―shame he died relatively young.

I ask the same for Foerster. I have his piano trios, good works, but not much to peak my interest with. What do you consider to be his 'masterpiece(s)', if any? Since many of you rank him highly I am clearly missing out on something.

Thanks in advance.

[vandermolen]

Fišer has been on my list of composers to investigate for a while now; I suppose this is the time to get started. What works (or better yet CDs) would you recommend for a newcomer to his music? Seems like an interesting figure ―shame he died relatively young.

I ask the same for Foerster. I have his piano trios, good works, but not much to peak my interest with. What do you consider to be his 'masterpiece(s)', if any? Since many of you rank him highly I am clearly missing out on something.

Thanks in advance.

I like the 'Easter Symphony' (No.4 I think) and 'Cyrano de Bergerac' - a Suite for Large Orchestra which has some beautiful moments.

As for favourite works by other Czech composers (or Slovaks  )

Novak: The Storm, South Bohemian Suite, De Profundis, Eight Nocturnes for Voice and Orchestra, Pan (Piano and orchestral versions)
Kabelac: Mystery of Time (one of my greatest discoveries through this forum)
Martinu: Symphony 4
Kalabis: Sinfonia Pacis (No.2)
Janacek: Sinfonietta, Glagolitic Mass, Suite from Jenufa
Moyzes: Symphony 7
Schulhoff: Symphony 5
Dvorak: Cello Concerto

[Mirror Image]

Fišer has been on my list of composers to investigate for a while now; I suppose this is the time to get started. What works (or better yet CDs) would you recommend for a newcomer to his music? Seems like an interesting figure ―shame he died relatively young.

I ask the same for Foerster. I have his piano trios, good works, but not much to peak my interest with. What do you consider to be his 'masterpiece(s)', if any? Since many of you rank him highly I am clearly missing out on something.

Thanks in advance.

I've got a disc of Foerster violin concertos and was left underwhelmed by these works, which led me to stop my exploration of his music, so, no, it's not just you. Don't ever feel like you're missing out on something when you clearly have tried to like the music and put in the effort. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to listen to some of Foerster's other music, but he doesn't seem to have a unique slant of the style he seems to compose in the most: late-Romanticism.

[Turner]

Fišer has been on my list of composers to investigate for a while now; I suppose this is the time to get started. What works (or better yet CDs) would you recommend for a newcomer to his music? Seems like an interesting figure ―shame he died relatively young.

Fiser has a very characteristic, primitivist & ritualist style (say a mixture of Ustvolskaya, Pärt and Schnittke). An obvious example is the "Concerto for 2 pianos & orchestra", but it is perhaps too simple. The vocal works often have a ceremonial, stasis-like character, or they seem to have a critical angle also on contemporary society. His film music is often sentimental and Morricone-like.

I´d recommend the "15 Dürer Pictures" (in good sound) and the piano sonatas for a start, such as the 4th, inspired by Scriabin´s 10th. Those wishing for more advanced music might investigate the vocal works.

I don´t remember all the work in details, but I´ve managed to accumulate a mixture of LPs and downloads, comprising

- "15 Pictures after Dürer´s Apocalypse", for orchestra. Waldhans /supraphon LP
- "Requiem" for soloists & orchestra. I have the old Sidlo/supraphon LP
- "Double" f.orchestra /Smetacek recording /e-music dwl
- "Crux" f.Violin, Drums & Bells /I.Straus, P.Sprunk /e-music dwl
- "Lament over the Ruined City of Ur" f.Sopr.,Baryt.,2 Choirs & Instr./P.Kuhn, F.BelfinSolister/e-music dwl                                               
- "Per Vittoria Colonna" f.Cello & Choir / Kuhn, M.Jerie/panton lp
- "Ave Imperator" f.Choir & Instr/ Kuhn/panton 81 8110 0152
- "Istanu" f.Recital, Flute & Perc. /H-Woska,Tarabova,W.Hiller/dwl e-music                                                                                               
- "Sonata for Piano, Choir og Orchestra"/ F.Maxian, L.Pesek, O/e-music dwl
- "Concerto for 2 Pianos og Orchestra"/ G.Ohlsson, F.Maxian; L.Pesek,CzechPO/supraphon lp                                                                                                                                                                                   

- 3rd Piano Sonata/Holy/dwl
- 4th Piano Sonata/Banfield/wergo lp
- 6th Piano Sonata/M-Dvorakova/dwl

There´s probably a good deal more available now, for instance on you-tube.

[Turner]

I've got a disc of Foerster violin concertos and was left underwhelmed by these works (...).

I agree that Foerster doesn´t always have a captivating style, and putting him before Smetana in my ranking was probably a mistake, since Smetana after all produced more works that I really like. But Foerster´s "Cyrano de Bergerac" suite in the old, catchy Smetacek recording is wonderful, and the piano trios in the old LP recordings are very attractive too. There are many works of his I still don´t know enough. I also have his comprehensive self-biography "Der Pilger. Erinnerungen eines Musikers", in German (1955).

I forgot to mention Ostrcil, who wrote a surprisingly Mahleresque "Suite in c-minor" for orchestra (1912) and many other works.

[vandermolen]

New release. I posted it in the Novak thread but thought it worth posting it here too.
'in the Tatras' is a great powerful and brooding work.
[asin]B06W5B4NZ2[/asin]

[Spineur]

New release. I posted it in the Novak thread but thought it worth posting it here too.
'in the Tatras' is a great powerful and brooding work.
[asin]B06W5B4NZ2[/asin]

Hi !  Last summer, I crossed the Tatras chain on the Tatranska Magistralia, which runs parallel to the Polish/Slovak border.  Below a couple of lowres pictures.  So when I came back, I had to listen to Novak Tatras suite.  I got the earlier recording that is posted on the Novak thread.  The music somehow did not match the personal impressions we got on this 6 day hike.  Somehow, the suite feels more wintery, "brooding" as you say.  There can be extreme wind storm there, although we did not experience them.

[Turner]

Nice photos!

I´ve been on either side of the mountains once, but never crossed them, or really hiked in them, except for a walk south of Zakopane in Poland.

[André]

Fucik anyone ? The best composer of light music outside GB.

Dvorak
Janacek
Suk
Martinu
Novak
Schulhoff
Kalabis
Rosetti
Dussek
Smetana