CD:
Janáček: Glagolitic Mass

On 31 August Decca Classics released the Czech Philharmonic's recording of Janáček's Glagolitic Mass, Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba and The Fiddler’s Child.

With the release of Smetana’s Má vlast (My Homeland) at the beginning of the year, the recordings mark some of the last that former Chief Conductor and Music Director, Jiří Bělohlávek, made with the Orchestra for Decca Classics.

90 years since Janáček’s death in 1928, the Czech Philharmonic continues to champion the music of its homeland as it has done since its inaugural concert in 1896 when it gave the première of Dvořák's Biblical Songs conducted by the composer.

Of the works featured on this release, Janáček's The Fiddler's Child and Sinfonietta both received their world premières from the Czech Philharmonic, the former under Otakar Ostrčil in 1917 and the latter under Václav Talich in 1926. Talich also conducted the Czech Philharmonic in the Prague première of Taras Bulba in 1924. The Orchestra made earlier recordings of the Glagolitic Mass with Karel Ančerl, Václav Neumann and Sir Charles Mackerras, but this is the first under Jiří Bělohlávek who chose to conduct the work at the First Night of the 2011 BBC Proms.

Jiří Bělohlávek's recordings with the Czech Philharmonic for Decca Classics include Dvořák’s complete Symphonies & Concertos, Slavonic Dances and Stabat Mater, which was chosen as Album of the Week by The Sunday Times. Under its new Chief Conductor and Music Director, Semyon Bychkov, the Orchestra have recently embarked on The Tchaikovsky Project – recordings of the complete symphonies, the three piano concertos, Romeo & Juliet, Serenade for Strings and Francesca da Rimini.