FIVE STAR REVIEW IN THE TIMES
FOR PETR POPELKA WITH PRAGUE RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND THEIR SMETANA
Album detail
Catalogue number: SU 4347-2
3rd January 2025
The new album of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and its principal conductor Petr Popelka featuring Smetana's Má vlast and other symphonic works received a brilliant review in The Times this week.
"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. Also a total belief in the value and richness of what he conducts... The huge offering here, however, is Ma Vlast, the cycle of six symphonic poems celebrating the composer’s homeland and history and a work frequently recorded, though rarely with the gusto, momentum and instrumental splendour found here. 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."