Czech Composers post Martinu

[Brian]

Bumping this thread that represents a fun collection of overlooked composers!

I just pulled out the Ancerl Gold album for Jan Hanus and listened to the suite from "Salt Is Better Than Gold." It is very very filmic - has much in common with the Hollywood scores of the late 1940s, including the big swelling themes, characteristic dances, and gently heroic tonal basis. It's very enjoyable but I do think I'd like it more set to a movie than in a concert hall setting. Ballet was premiered in 1952. This week I'll revisit the Symphony No 2 on the disc, which was apparently written in admiration of and praise for St Francis of Assisi - a subject he managed to depict in such glowing tones that the censors mistook the piece for Socialist realism!