Czech Music | All stories

In this edition of Encore we find out how today's French horn differs from the horns of 18th century Bohemia, we have more from the composer who wrote a Requiem for Mozart, and we have some delightful choral music from a distinguished contemporary Czech composer.

In this edition of Encore we look at a rarely used musical form, shared by Bach and the 20th century Czech composer, Jan Novak. We also feature two highly promising young Czech musicians, cellist Tomas Jamnik and pianist Ivo Kahanek.

Carl Stamic was probably the very first virtuoso violist. He lived from 1745 until 1801. The viola is sometimes described as the alto voice of the violin family - if you think of violins as sopranos, violas as altos, cellos as tenors, and the contrabass as bass.

It is quite possible that you will have heard Hans Krasa's famous children's opera Brundibar, but it is less likely that you will have heard it performed in English. Naxos has now come out with a first English language recording.

Today we look at two very different recordings. The first is by a 20th century Czech composer whose name is almost forgotten, but whose music is familiar to every Czech child. The second offers intriguing insights into changes in the way music was played in the course of the 18th century.

Today we bring you no less than two father-and-daughter musical teams, with music by Czech composers Jan Novak, Lubos Sluka and Jaroslav Ridky, as well as an excellent recent Martinu recording, featuring the composer's two piano quintets and his Sonata for two violins.

Today we devote the whole of Encore to one disk. It is entitled 'Czech String Quartet Discoveries' and was issued privately by the celebrated Stamic Quartet - making it rather difficult to get hold of, but well worth the trouble. It features music by Pavel Haas - whose 'From the Monkey Mountains' quartet we discussed last month - and Erwin Schulhoff, Hans Krasa and Leos Janacek. All of these, with of course the exception of Janacek, are composers who perished in Nazi concentration camps.

In this edition of Encore - with a strong Moravian flavour - we discuss an impressive first recording by the young Pavel Haas String Quartet, and we also look at a violinist who composed for the organ in his spare time.

You wouldn't usually associate music with mysterious arts of the alchemist, but in Prague, at the beginning of the 17th century, just about anything was possible. In Encore today, we look at "alchemical" music - or to be more precise, music composed by an alchemist.

Even if he had never written another work in his life, the Czech composer Oldrich Korte would deserve immortality for his Sonata for Piano. The piece was composed between 1951 and 1953 when Korte was still in his mid-twenties and virtually unknown. Today it is recognised as one of the great piano sonatas of the 20th century and is a particular favourite of Korte's long-standing friend, the American pianist, Garrick Ohlsson, who has helped to carry its fame abroad.