Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Jiří Bělohlávek, Libor Pešek, Václav Neumann - Bohemian Impressions (2011)

The names of Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček and Bohuslav Martinů are rightly synonymous with the global fame of Czech music. And it was frequently the compositions inspired by the beauty of the beloved homeland (and its folk music) that brought its creators to the attention of listeners worldwide.

A case in point is Smetana’s My Country, yet other composers too reflected the land of their heart, its natural and folk motifs in their works (Janáček’s Lachian Dances, Novák’s Moravian-Slovak Suite, Dvořák’s Czech Suite, Martinů’s Bouquet of Flowers, etc.). Bohemian Impressions is a selection of the most beautiful melodies that grew out of this inspiration – a gallery of images and reminiscences from the places where one feels most alive and keeps returning to.

Amid the wide harmonies – how wide are the horizons seen from the Vysočina hills? – flash the sparks of lively colours with which a composer let himself be carried away by the rhythms of folk dances at a village ball. This is a musical landscape singing of love, colours, scents and tranquillity; a landscape in which you will feel alive. The most beautiful music from Bohemian fields and groves – a landscape of the heart to which we keep returning.