Bedrich Smetana is one of the best kept secrets of Western music; while The Moldau is a standard concert favorite and The Bartered Bride perhaps the best-known of all Czech operas, his whole output, from the operas down to polkas and simple piano dances, sparkles with inspiration, originality, and rhythmic verve. That the better part of Smetana's oeuvre falls into the realm of "neglected" is not terribly surprising; its publication history is chaotic, with many pieces not surfacing in print until long after the composer's ...
Read More
Bedrich Smetana is one of the best kept secrets of Western music; while The Moldau is a standard concert favorite and The Bartered Bride perhaps the best-known of all Czech operas, his whole output, from the operas down to polkas and simple piano dances, sparkles with inspiration, originality, and rhythmic verve. That the better part of Smetana's oeuvre falls into the realm of "neglected" is not terribly surprising; its publication history is chaotic, with many pieces not surfacing in print until long after the composer's death. The three CDs in Brilliant Classics' Bedrich Smetana: Complete Orchestral Works contain more of Smetana's orchestral music than does Supraphon's three-disc set with Vladimir Válek and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, released in 2007. Both sets include Smetana's massive cycle of symphonic poems, Má Vlast; the symphonic poems that fall outside the cycle, Wallenstein's Camp, Hŕkon Jarl, and Richard III; and his lone Symphony in E major, Op. 6. Where they differ is in the...
Read Less