Czech Philharmonic, Semyon Bychkov – Smetana: Má Vlast (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:21:47 minutes | 1,40 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PENTATONE
The Czech Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov present a new recording of Bedřich Smetana’s masterpiece Má vlast (My Homeland). The album celebrates both the bicentenary of Smetana’s birth and, the start of 2024’s Year of Czech Music which has been celebrated every ten years since Smetana’s 100th anniversary in 1924. Má vlast (1874-1878) is a potent symbol of the Czech Republic’s turbulent political history and has played an important role in the Czech national movement. Contemplating the landscape, history, and legends of Bohemia, Má vlast is best known for its world-famous Moldau melody. For Bychkov, who was born in Russia before emigrating to the United States, and now lives in France, the question of ‘the homeland’ is particularly poignant – how to take pride in the best of its heritage, while also coming to terms with its darker pages. For the Orchestra to revisit this seminal piece with Bychkov, with whom it has developed such a close working relationship over the past few years, makes the recording all the more personal and topical.
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Czech Philharmonic & Semyon Bychkov – Mahler: Symphony No. 1 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:14 minutes | 924 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
The Czech Philharmonic and Music Director, Semyon Bychkov, continue their acclaimed Mahler cycle with the composer’s First Symphony, one of the most evocative and colourful symphonic debuts in the history of the genre. Mahler once famously said that “a symphony should be like the world, it should encompass everything.” In his First Symphony, he creates just such a world, filled with animal sounds, hunting horns, rural dances, klezmer bands and allusions to his own songs and folk song melodies such as Frère Jacques. These elements all function within a highly subjective, immersive symphonic drama, providing a blueprint for most of his symphonies to come. Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic approach the composer’s firstling with their esteemed eye for detail and pacing, matched by their unmistakably Bohemian sound.
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Semyon Bychkov, Czech Philharmonic – Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:17 minutes | 1,05 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Semyon Bychkov conducts the Czech Philharmonic in Tchaikovsky’s epic Manfred Symphony for Volume 2 of his Tchaikovsky Project.
Following 2016’s critically acclaimed Tchaikovsky Project Vol.1 (Pathétique and Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture), Volume 2 is released to coincide with the performance of Manfred Symphony at the BBC Proms on Thursday 31 August 2017.
The Tchaikovsky Project is a multi-year project shedding new light on the great master’s major orchestral works. Each recording benefits from extensive preparation time, the best possible recording conditions and Bychkov’s in-depth research on these works.
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Czech Philharmonic, Karel Ančerl – Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 (1956/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 47:31 minutes | 412 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd.
A Czech maestro in his element: the complete Philips and Deutsche Grammophon albums of Karel Ancerl collected as a single edition to mark the 50th anniversary of his death (3 July 1973). Karel Ancerl made most of his recordings behind the Iron Curtain for the Supraphon label, as chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic between 1950 and 1968. However, as the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra began to tour abroad, Ancerl’s own reputation rose with them, and he accepted invitations to lead orchestras across Europe and the US.
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Czech Philharmonic, Semyon Bychkov, Christiane Karg, Elisabeth Kulman, Prague Philharmonic Choir – Mahler: Symphony No. 2 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:26:50 minutes | 1,43 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
After critically-acclaimed recordings of Mahler’s Fourth and Fifth Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov continue their Pentatone Mahler cycle with a rendition of the composer’s Second, nicknamed “The Resurrection”. They are joined by soprano Christiane Karg, alto Elisabeth Kulman and the Prague Philharmonic Choir. Starting with a funeral march, passing through the introspective alto song “Urlicht” and ending in choral bliss and euphoria, Mahler’s Second is a deeply spiritual and personal contemplation on the secret of life and the possibility of overcoming death. For Bychkov, the symphony “shows the life cycle in all its struggles: suffering, joy, irony, humour, love and doubt.”
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Jirí Belohlávek, Czech Philharmonic – Janáček: Glagolitic Mass; Taras Bulba; Sinfonietta; The Fiddler’s Child (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:40:15 minutes | 1,78 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Jiří Bělohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic present Leoš Janáček’s most notable works.
This release continues the series of Jiří Bělohlávek’s last recordings of Czech masterworks for Decca Classics before he sadly passed away last year.
August 2018 marks 90 years since Janáček’s death in 1928. This album commemorates the great Czech composer with these informed recordings by the Czech conductor and orchestra.
This album features ‘The Fiddler’s Child’ – a new addition to the Decca catalogue.
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Czech Philharmonic & Jiri Belohlavek, Garrick Ohlsson, Alisa Weilerstein, Frank Peter Zimmermann – Dvorák: Complete Symphonies & Concertos (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 08:04:19 minutes | 8,62 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
A new Dvorák symphony and concerto cycle from the multi-Gramophone-Award-winning conductor and the great Prague-based orchestra. It marks a triumphant return to the orchestra where he trained, the world leading and multi-Gramophone Award-winning maestro Jirí Bìlohlávek records Decca’s first Dvorák cycle since the 1960s. This complete symphonies and concertos set is a pinnacle of brilliant music-making, and the first major cycle to be recorded in high-definition 24bit 96kHz and Mastered for iTunes sound.
Dvorák himself conducted the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra’s first concert in 1896, and the shared Bohemian heritage of composer, conductor and orchestra lends a very special authenticity to these recordings.
Dvorák’s three concertos (violin, cello and piano) feature alongside his nine great Symphonies, with Decca’s leading cellist Alisa Weilerstein, Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) and Garrick Ohlsson (piano). The Czech PO and Belohlávek will be undertaking major European tours in 2014, including a full Dvorák symphonic cycle in Prague in September. Rhombus Films have also made a fascinating documentary focusing on Belohlávek’s return to Prague as the Czech Philharmonic’s chief conductor.
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Czech Philharmonic, Kirill Gerstein & Semyon Bychkov – Tchaikovsky: Complete Symphonies and Piano Concertos (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 08:17:10 minutes | 8,55 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Studio recordings are rare things today. Orchestras are of such great quality that publishers prefer live recordings, which are much cheaper than long studio sessions, with their complex production workloads. And so this is a rather “old-fashioned” (it’s fashionable) publication here from Decca, directed by Smyon Bychkov, a conductor who has rarely appeared on records for some years.
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Czech Philharmonic & Jiří Bělohlávek – Suk: Asrael Symphony; Pohádka (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:28:01 minutes | 1,55 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Both the ‘AsraelSymphony’ and ‘Fairy Tale’, considered by many the summit of Suk’s achievements, are new additions to the Decca and Universal catalogues.
145 years after Suk’s birth, JiříBělohlávekand the Czech Philharmonic present informed performances of two of the composer’s most notable works. The ‘AsraelSymphony’ was composed in memory of Antonín Dvořákand his daughter, Otilie, to whom Suk was married.
This release continues the series of JiříBělohlávek’slast recordings of Czech masterworks for Decca Classics before he sadly passed away in 2017.
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Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek – Smetana: Má Vlast (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:16:48 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
The great Czech conductor and his beloved orchestra perform a definitive Má vlast.
In one of his last recording with the Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek conducts a heartfelt account of Smetana’s great set of symphonic poems: Má vlast (My Homeland).
This recording is the first album release by the Czech Philharmonic and their much-loved chief conductor, Jiří Bělohlávek, following his passing in May 2017.
Smetana’s Czech masterpiece has played a central role during the most important moments of the Czech Philharmonic’s history.
This is an authoritative recording of Má vlast performed by musicians with an innate understanding of the music of their homeland.
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Czech Philharmonic & Jiri Belohlavek – Dvorák: Stabat Mater, Op. 58, B.71 (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:23:01 minutes | 1,39 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
The year 1875 was something of an annus mirabilis for Dvořák: in just twelve months he composed his Fifth Symphony, the E major String Serenade, three important chamber works, four Moravian Duets and the five-act grand opera Vanda. It also marked both a peak in his fortunes – for the first time he received a state prize to help struggling young artists – and a year of deep personal sadness for the composer and his wife Anna, with the death on 19 September of their infant daughter Josefa.
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Czech Philharmonic, Jiri Belohlavek – Anton Dvorák : Complete Symphonies & Concertos (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 08:04:43 minutes | 8,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Even though Anton’in Dvor’ak remains among the most popular of Romantic composers, compilations of his complete symphonies are somewhat scarce, especially when compared to those of other great symphonists of the 19th century. That’s one reason why Jir’i Belohl’avek’s 2014 set with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra should get classical fans’ attention, but a more valid reason to acquire this collection is the exceptionally high quality of the performances, which Decca recorded in a series of subscription concerts between 2010 and 2014. A deciding factor should be the strong feeling this conductor and orchestra have for Dvor’ak’s music, not only because of a shared Bohemian tradition and the composer’s legacy (Dvor’ak conducted the Czech Philharmonic’s first concert in 1896), but also because few other orchestras communicate the rhythms and colors of the music as vibrantly and with as much excitement. As rare as sets of the complete symphonic cycle are, those that include Dvor’ak’s concertos are rarer still. The recordings Belohl’avek and the CPO made of the Cello Concerto in B minor with Alisa Weilerstein, the Violin Concerto in A minor with Frank Peter Zimmerman, and the Piano Concerto in G minor with Garrick Ohlsson are essential listening, and their inclusion with the symphonies gives the package much greater value. Decca’s high-definition sound delivers clean details and close-up presence, so even though these recordings are live, they sound as fine as a studio recording. Highly recommended.
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