Smetana – Alto CD https://altocd.com Classical Music and Nostalgia CDs Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:39:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Smetana: Polkas, MacBeth & The Witches, Bagatelles & Impromptus https://altocd.com/product/smetana-polkas-macbeth-the-witches-bagatelles-impromptus/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:38:50 +0000 https://amuletts.com/altocd/?post_type=product&p=51279 Smetana: Polkas, MacBeth & The Witches, Bagatelles & Impromptus Radoslav Kvapil Catalogue Number: ALC 1173 Number of Discs: 1 Date/Runtime: 71:11 DDD, 1992/4]]> “Kvapil is entirely inside this repertoire…..a highly sensitive exponent” (Penguin Guide) “They (Dances) should be better known, and domestic pianists would find a good many of them well within finger-reach; anyone can take pleasure in Kvapil’s expert, sensitive performances, which touch delicately on the emotions lying beneath the music’s surface….allusive pieces which bear the same relationship as Chopin’s Mazurkas do to their parent dance…. The second set ….form an attractive and well-contrasted group. The earlier Bagatelles and Impromptus of 1844 are much simpler, and have a direct lyricism that was coloured by his love for his future wife Katerina” (Gramophone)

  • 1 Macbeth a čarodějnice (Macbeth and the Witches) (Op. post. 1858-59) 10:56
    (from) Tří salonni polky (Three Salon Polkas) (Op.7 1854)
  • 2  Polka in F minor 4:45
    (from) Tří poetické polky (Three Poetic Polkas) (Op.8 1854)
  • 3  Polka in Eb major 2:31
  • 4  Polka in G minor 4:12

Vzpominka na Čechy ve formě polek (Memories of Bohemia in Polka Form)
(Op.12 1859-60)

  • 5  Polka in A minor 3:36
  • 6  Polka in E minor 6:38

Vzpominka na Čechy ve formě polek (Memories of Bohemia in Polka Form)
(Op.133 1859-60)

  • 7  Polka in E minor 2:46
  • 8  Polka in Eb minor 5:53

České tance (Czech Dances) 1 (1877)

  • 9  Polka in F sharp minor    3:22
  • 10 Polka in A minor    2:55 12. Polka in B flat        3:49
  • 11 . Polka in F 3:36

Bagately a Impromptus (Bagatelles and Impromptus) (1844)

  • 13 Nevinnost (Innocence) 2:51
  • 14 Skličenost (Depression) 1:28
  • 15 Idyla (Idyll)  1:12
  • 16 Touha (Longing) 1:56
  • 17 Radost (Joy) 0:44
  • 18 Pohádka (Fairytale) 3:10
  • 19 Láska (Love) 2:58
  • 20 Nesvár (Discord) 1:41
]]> Smetana / Janacek / Suk: Music for String Quartet https://altocd.com/product/smetana-janacek-suk-music-for-string-quartet/ https://altocd.com/product/smetana-janacek-suk-music-for-string-quartet/#respond Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:36:36 +0000 https://amuletts.com/altocd/?post_type=product&p=50905 Smetana / Janacek / Suk: Music for String Quartet Talich Quartet / Vanbrugh Quartet Catalogue Number: ALC 1079 Number of Discs: 1]]> 3 Stars “The Talich Quartet have no want of drama or fire…this is cultured playing, and moreover they are better served by their recording engineers. … [R]eaders can invest with confidence, and with attractive bonus tracks”
— Penguin Guide

Essential Czech quartets from two outstanding ensembles

]]> https://altocd.com/product/smetana-janacek-suk-music-for-string-quartet/feed/ 0