The Gold Collection

Maurice Ravel - Bolero, Daphnis et Chloé. Suites Nos. 1 and 2; Claude Debussy - La mer; Josef Suk - A Summer's Tale, Op. 29; Serenade for String Orchestra in E flat major, Op. 6; Under the Apple Tree. Suite, Op. 20; A Fairy Tale. Suite for Radúz and Mahulena, Op. 16 (selection); Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 7 in E major; Edward Elgar - Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85; Alexander Scriabin - Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op. 20

Garrick Ohlsson - piano, Michaela Fukačová - cello, Eva Děpoltová - soprano, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra

To mark Libor Pešek's eightieth birthday, Supraphon presents a representative selection of large orchestral recordings he made from 1981 to 1989. Compositions by Josef Suk, who has occupied a privileged position in Pešek's career, are featured alongside paramount Impressionist pieces - Debussy's La mer and Ravel's Suites from the ballet Daphnis et Chloé. Pešek's recording of Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 and Suk's lesser-known suite Under the Apple Tree are being released on CD for the very first time. The album also includes recordings of two concertos - Elgar's Cello Concerto, with Michaela Fukačová, and Scriabin's Piano Concerto, with Garrick Ohlsson. Within the illustrious career of Libor Pešek, a great and groundbreaking figure among Czech conductors, the period documented on this CD represents one of his peaks, the time of his most intensive collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, preceding his assuming the post of music director of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. These digitally remastered recordings bear witness to Pešek's remarkably nuanced work with the orchestral sound and sense for the great lines of Romantic orchestral scores.

A living portrait of a major Czech conductor.