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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.

One Christmas carol that doesn't hail from the Czech Republic is the one about Good King Wenceslas, although he is this country's patron Saint and ruled here in the 10th century, until he was disposed of by the fratricidal Boleslav. The snow hasn't exactly been "deep and crisp and even" either so far this winter, but there is plenty of Christmas spirit about. Christmas Eve is the big day for Czech children, when "Jezisek" - the Infant Jesus - brings the presents, after the family has enjoyed a meal of fried carp and potato salad. And there is also

In Encore this week we look at an excellent CD of music from Prague during the Baroque period, and we also enjoy the rich sound of the cathedral organ in the beautiful Moravian town of Kromeriz.

Few people over the last half century have made an impact on Czech classical music that comes anywhere close to that of the composer Viktor Kalabis, who died on 28th September at the age of 83. His work emerges from a great musical tradition that includes Stravinsky and Martinu, and his compositions are typically characterized by a sense of drama combined with a strong feel for inner musical logic. Viktor Kalabis was also a brilliant organizer. The legacy of his twenty years as Music Director at Czechoslovak Radio that ended in 1972 is felt to

In this edition of Encore we hear from a Czech master of the fugue and we feature a recording of a fascinating early orchestral piece by Janacek, sounding very different from the composer as most people know him.

Today we look at Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen, recently featured at the Proms in London, and we feature a brand new recording - the first ever CD featuring both the piano concertos of one of the leading Czech composers of the early 19th century. We also discuss a Supraphon re-release of cello concertos by a composer whose playing was admired by Mozarts father.

Today we enjoy a CD of works by Jaroslav Jezek. He was a Czech composer of the inter-war period who made a huge impression on Czech musical culture, and this recording features his own piano, still in place in Jezek's famous "Blue Room". We also engage in some "Philosophical Dialogues" with contemporary composer, Oldrich Korte, whose works confront some of the basic questions of our existence.