Album
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Petr Popelka
Smetana: Má vlast. Symphonic Works
Catalogue Number: SU 4347-2
Published: 13th December 2024
Genre: Orchestral
Format: 3 CD
This album has received following awards:
- Gramophone Editor´s Choice (2025)
Bedřich Smetana – Má vlast – a cycle of symphonic poems. “Swedish” symphonic poems (Richard III, Op. 11; Wallenstein’s Camp, Op. 14; Hakon Jarl, Op. 16). Triumphal Symphony in E major, Op. 6. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, “From My Life” (arr. for orchestra by George Szell)
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor: Petr Popelka
Within a mere few years, Petr Popelka has established himself as one of the world’s most exciting young conductors. Serving as principal conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Wiener Symphoniker, he has also appeared as a guest with prominent European and American orchestras, as well as at opera houses worldwide. Popelka does not view Bedřich Smetana’s legacy as an obligatory Czech national classic, but rather as an object of love and vital artistic quest. “His ultimate masterpiece, Má vlast, should be approached a bit like an opera, as a great story …. As a cycle of tone poems based on the theme of the homeland, it is absolutely unique in the history of music. Most significantly, there is not a work written with greater love.” Popelka’s recording is not just yet another addition to the immense number of recordings of Má vlast. Bringing to bear his great musicality and acute sense of detail, the conductor and the orchestra have modelled a truly exceptional form. Popelka’s album features other gems too. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, “From My Life”, hailing from Smetana’s mature period, when the composer was completely deaf, in George Szell’s brilliant orchestration. In contrast, Smetana’s early music is represented by the Triumphal Symphony, dedicated to the wedding of the 24-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph I to Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria, and three “Swedish” Liszt-inspired symphonic poems, based on dramas as immense as Shakespeare’s Richard III and Schiller’s Wallenstein. The extraordinary album marks the 200th anniversary of Smetana’s birth. Lovers of spatial sound will certainly relish streaming Má vlast in the Dolby Atmos format.
Petr Popelka conducts Smetana – with love, deep feeling and sense for detail
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor: Petr Popelka
Within a mere few years, Petr Popelka has established himself as one of the world’s most exciting young conductors. Serving as principal conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Wiener Symphoniker, he has also appeared as a guest with prominent European and American orchestras, as well as at opera houses worldwide. Popelka does not view Bedřich Smetana’s legacy as an obligatory Czech national classic, but rather as an object of love and vital artistic quest. “His ultimate masterpiece, Má vlast, should be approached a bit like an opera, as a great story …. As a cycle of tone poems based on the theme of the homeland, it is absolutely unique in the history of music. Most significantly, there is not a work written with greater love.” Popelka’s recording is not just yet another addition to the immense number of recordings of Má vlast. Bringing to bear his great musicality and acute sense of detail, the conductor and the orchestra have modelled a truly exceptional form. Popelka’s album features other gems too. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, “From My Life”, hailing from Smetana’s mature period, when the composer was completely deaf, in George Szell’s brilliant orchestration. In contrast, Smetana’s early music is represented by the Triumphal Symphony, dedicated to the wedding of the 24-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph I to Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria, and three “Swedish” Liszt-inspired symphonic poems, based on dramas as immense as Shakespeare’s Richard III and Schiller’s Wallenstein. The extraordinary album marks the 200th anniversary of Smetana’s birth. Lovers of spatial sound will certainly relish streaming Má vlast in the Dolby Atmos format.
Petr Popelka conducts Smetana – with love, deep feeling and sense for detail
Reviews
“The cream’s served up by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, not an outfit automatically regarded as one of the world’s finest, but that is how they sound under the leadership of their dynamic principal conductor, Petr Popelka. What is his secret? Top-level musicianship, plainly… One of the Prague orchestra’s distinctions is its blended sound when playing at full tilt… All in all, I can’t think of a jollier album for ushering in 2025.”
The Times, January 2025
“…those six works (Má vlast) quickly became his most widely known orchestral scores, and the Prague Radio Symphony’s performances of them, bristling with energy and vivid intent when required, rightly take pride of place in Petr Popelka’s survey of the major orchestral works… it’s Popelka’s performances of the other works here that single this set out as thoroughly worthwhile.”
The Guardian, January 2025
“The beauty of Popelka’s Prague RSO performance is that, although tension is maintained throughout each movement of Má vlast, textures remain transparent, which means that this most verdant of symphonic masterpieces never sounds enclosed. Neither does Popelka outlaw subtly employed expressive rubato or dynamics tweaked for the sake of clarity… This is a wholly excellent set, extremely well recorded.”
Gramophone, February 2025
CD 1 |
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Bedřich Smetana
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| 1. | Richard III., Op. 11 | 12:27 | |
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Bedřich Smetana
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| 2. | Wallenstein´s Camp, Op. 14 | 14:29 | |
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Bedřich Smetana
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| 3. | Hakon Jarl, Op. 16 | 15:06 | |
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Bedřich Smetana
String Quartet No. 1 in E minor “From my Life”
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| 4. | I. Allegro vivo appassionato | 07:35 | |
| 5. | II. Allegro moderato à la polka | 05:46 | |
| 6. | III. Largo sostenuto | 08:45 | |
| 7. | IV. Vivace | 06:15 | |
CD 2 |
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Bedřich Smetana
Festive Symphony in E major, Op. 6
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| 1. | I. Allegro vivace | 10:12 | |
| 2. | II. Largo maestoso | 09:51 | |
| 3. | III. Scherzo. Allegro vivo | 09:52 | |
| 4. | IV. Finale. Allegro non troppo ma energico | 11:15 | |
CD 3 |
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Bedřich Smetana
Má vlast
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| 1. | I. Vyšehrad | 14:46 | |
| 2. | II. Vltava | 11:44 | |
| 3. | III. Šárka | 09:31 | |
| 4. | IV. From Bohemian´s Woods and Fields | 12:14 | |
| 5. | V. Tábor | 11:26 | |
| 6. | VI. Blaník | 13:55 | |