Peter van Dijk
(b. 1952, Groningen) studied church music and organ in
Utrecht, harpsichord at the Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam, and
musicology at Utrecht University. He currently performs throughout Europe,
preferring historic organs built in the period from the Renaissance to the
Late Romantic period, and he appears annually in important European
festivals. He also devotes himself intensively, as an interpreter, conductor
and producer, to recording organ music, and has collaborated with several
Netherlands radio stations and recording companies. He has, in addition,
prepared radio series and CD sets, using historic organs of Alsace, north
Italy, Austria and Bohemia. In 1992 he established his own Tsjilp Studio for
recording music. In 1977-83 van Dijk wrote about music for the Netherlands
monthly het ORGEL [The Organ], and now writes for it on topics of organ
construction and renovation. He has also written a number of articles for
other magazines and also books, on musical rhetoric, the place of the organ
in church music, and organ-building. In addition, van Dijk runs seminars and
master classes organized by universities and other institutions of higher
learning in the Netherlands and abroad.He is the organist at Tuindorpkerk,
Utrecht, and is an expert on the organs of the Protestant church. Many
historic instruments in the Netherlands have been restored under his
supervision, in collaboration with the Netherlands Office for the
Preservation of Monuments and Historic Buildings. In this capacity he worked
with the Johannes Klais Orgelbau company on the restoration of the Tyn
Church organ, Prague.
The Tyn Church Organ, Prague 1673 (F1 0112)
Karel Dolezal
Prague-born viola player Karel Dolezal studied music at the State Conservatory under professors Vincenc Zahradnik and Lubomir Maly. He supplemented his artistic education studying under professor Ladislav Cerny (the Prague Quartet) during the years 1972-1975. He founded his own string quartet when he was twenty-four with whom he won the title of laureate at the Prague Spring competition and two years later he was awarded the silver medal at the International Festival of Young Soloists in Bordeaux, France. He frequently performs as a soloist (the Prague Spring, Bratislava music festivals), he gives concerts in many European countries and records for radio, television and the BBC. His main activities, however, are concentrated on artistic direction and performance with the Dolezal Quartet. The ensemble has made successful tours of the United States and Japan. His role as teacher is also important to him: he has conducted masterclasses in Finland, in the Czech Republic as part of the Bohemia Festival and he teaches at the Prague Conservatory.
Viola / Rubinstein, Hindemith, Bloch, Matousek (F1 0062)
Viola II / Mendelssohn, Hindemith, Reger, Weber (F1 0082)
Petr Hejny
a cello and viola da gamba player, composer and also painter and sculptor, was born in Prague, to a sculptor's family. At the age of six he began to take violin lessons, and from nine studied the cello with professor Karel Pravoslav Sadlo. Soon he was accepted to the state conservatory prep school, where he later became a regular student in the class of Viktor Moucka, a member of the Vlach Quartet. But regarded an exceptional talent, Hejny moved on, straight to the Academy of Musical Arts. After a year he left the school for political reasons and continued his studies privately with professor Milos Sadlo. He was twice awarded the first prize at the international contest Concertino Praga, at the ages of twelve and sixteen. When he was twenty he won the special prize from the Ministry of Culture for the best interpretation of David Popper's composition, The Tarantella. From 1977 he played viola da gamba and baroque cello with The Prague Madrigalists. Since 1984 he regularly works with Pro arte antiqua Praha and in 1987 he became a member of the Dolezal Quartet. He performs solo recitals and duos with violinist Josef Suk, harpsichord players Giedre Luksaite-Mrazkova or Zuzana Ruzickova, flutist Jiri Stivin. His repertoire ranges from medieval works to contemporary compositions, including chamber music, solo concertos and improvisations. In his life as a visual artist Hejny focuses mostly on painting and plastic art, and out of all cello literature he prefers 19th and 20th century material.
Bach: Three Sonatas for Viola da gamba and Harpsichord (F1 0024)
Abel: Six Sonatas for Viola da gamba Solo (F1 0046)
Telemann: Chamber Concertos for Recorder and Viola da gamba (F1 0058)
Vanhal, Zach: Sonatas for two clarinets and bass (F1 0092)
Robert Hugo
(b. 1962) began to devote himself systematically to music after graduating from university in Prague with a degree in science. He later studied music theory at the Prague School of the Performing Arts as well as organ with Milan Slechta and Jaroslav Tuma, and he also studied harpsichord under John Toll at the Dresden Academy of Early Music. Hugo has, as well, attended classes given by Zuzana Ruzickova, Johann Sonnleitner, Jacques Ogg and Helmut Franke. He worked with the ballet of the Laterna Magika theatre, Prague, has taught choral singing at the Drama Department of the Prague Conservatory, and was briefly Conductor at the Janacek Theatre, Brno. Robert Hugo is currently the organist at the church of the Holy Saviour, Prague, and collaborates regularly with the multi-instrumentalist Jiri Stivin.
While still a student he presented a number of Czechoslovak preimeres of oratorios by Giacomo Carissimi and stage performance of Gagliano's opera Dafne. As an harpsichordist and organist he has given concerts in a number of European countries, and has worked regularly with, for example, the Berlin ensemble Musicalische Compagney. In 1992 he founded Capella Regia, with whom he concentrates mostly on Czech music. His projects include contemporary preimeres of several oratorios by Jan Dismas Zelenka, as well as music by Adam Michna z Otradovic, Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky, and others. As a musicologist, Hugo is a recognized expert on early music from the Bohemian Lands and southern Germany. He is concerned primarily with research on the relationship between the religious music of the Bohemian Lands, Austria proper, and southern Germany, and also on music for keyboard instruments. He has also been engaged as a repertory consultant for the National Gallery, for whom he has regularly prepared a concert series in the St Agnes Convent, Prague. In addition, he works with Czech Radio and Westdeutscher in Cologne.
Michna: Officium vespertinum (F1 0104)
Andreas Kroper
studied flute at Heidelberg University and in Salzburg. His professional experience in early music has made him much in demand as a teacher and performer; in 1989 he was guest lecturer at the State University of Pennsylvania, and from 1990 he has been lecturing at the Academy of Early Music in the Institute of Musicology, Masaryk University, Brno. In 1995 he was invited to teach at Boston University, in Worcester and Cambridge. He also runs master courses in Europe. The German "Alte Music Aktuel" journal described him as one of the major personalities in early music. He has recorded for many gramophone companies in Europe and the USA, as well as for radio and television.
Rejcha, Myslivecek, Pichl: Trios (F1 0051)
Haydn: Fortepiano Trios (F1 0052)
Rejcha: Flute Quartets, Op.98 / 1,5,6 (F1 0099)
Jiri Krejci
(born 1946) is a graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and studied under professor Vladimir Riha. He continued his studies at the Accademia Chigiana in Italy, and later under professor Guy Deplus at the Paris conservatoire. He took part in the Prague Spring music festivals where he received a first-degree honourable mention in 1968 and became a prize-winner in 1974. He played in the Slovak Philharmonic for several years and has performed as a soloist with Czech chamber and symphony orchestras, in particular the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Czech Chamber Orchestra and the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic. He focuses his artistic activities on chamber-music performance and has worked with pianist Zorka Zichova, the Panocha Quartet, the New Prague Trio and the Martinu Quartet. He has also appeared as a soloist in Italy, France, Germany, Hungary and Austria. His repertoire includes works from all periods, several of which he has recorded for Czech radio, television and record companies. He has also taught in South Bohemia and conducted master classes in Italy. Jiri Krejci devotes much of his endeavour to performance on period clarinets, presenting the works of J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart, L. van Beethoven, G. Sciroli, J. A. Fr. Mica, V. Pichl, J. K. Vanhal, J. P. Vesely and the anonymous "L" as new premieres performed on period instruments. For this recording he chose an original six-key clarinet made from boxwood by the Prague firm W. Horak, taken from his own collection. The instrument bears no date, however, historical sources reveal that it originated from the foundation of pianist and composer Abbe Josef Jelinek who was a personal friend of Mozart.
Pichl, Mozart: Quartets for clarinet and strings (F1 0079)
Vanhal, Zach: Sonatas for two clarinets and bass (F1 0092)
Jana Lewitova
mezzosoprano, graduated from the Academy of Music, Prague; she is one of the foremost Czech performers of Renaissance and Baroque music. She studied classical singing under Professor Karel Berman and Professor Terezie Blumova, and Baroque under Jessica Cash at her summer courses in Innsbruck. Jana Lewitova performs with well-known soloists, with early music ensembles (Prague Madrigalists, Musica Florea, Capella regia musicalis) at concerts and for recordings, and is much in demand as a teacher. Among her earlier solo recordings the Sephardic Songs awarded the Czech Music Fund Prize in 1994.
Adam a Eva / Old Moravian ballads (F1 0089)
Lute Songs in 16th & 17th century Europe (F1 0017)
Sephardic Songs (F1 0047)
Sephardic Inspiration (F1 0077)
Lullaby Baby (F1 0098)
Topsy-Turvy World & Other Ballads From the Mountain Meadows of Slovakia (F1 0109)
Giedre Luksaite-Mrazkova
born in Lithuania, began to play the piano at the age of five. She graduated at the State Conservatory of Vilnius in the piano and organ division. As an aspirant she continued studying organ at the Moscow State Conservatory of P. I. Tchaikovsky, later with professor Jiri Reinberger (organ) and professor Zuzana Ruzickova (harpsichord) at the Prague Academy of Musical Arts. After finishing her postgraduate studies and a three year long research internship she settled in Czech Republic (since 1976), and worked as a harpsichord docent in Prague. As an organ and harpsichord player she appeared as a soloist of the Lithuanian State Philharmonic Orchestra, gave concerts among others with the Dresden Philharmony, the Bach Orchestra of Leipzig and the Prague Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. From 1984 she was a member of the Ars Rediviva ensemble. Nowadays she performs solo recitals above all and plays concerts regularly throughout Europe.
Italian Clavier in the 17th & 18th Century (F1 0053)
Bach: Three Sonatas for Viola da gamba and Harpsichord (F1 0024)
Rudolf Merinsky
The guitar ruled for more than two hundred years, but in the early fifties the lute began to find its way back on to the concert platform; slowly and cautiously at first, as guitar players used the lute to add variety to their programmes. From the seventies onwards, however, a growing number of musicians began to devote themselves to the instrument professionally. In Bohemia and Moravia, too, the tradition of lute playing is being revived, thanks among others to the Prague musician Rudolf Merinsky. He has been studying the lute for over ten years, privately, under such teachers as Nigel North, Jacob Lindberg, Anthony Rooley and Hopkinson Smith, and in such specialized courses as the Summer School in Innsbruck and that in Dartington, England. His repertoire is taken mainly from Renaissance and Baroque music; he performs as a soloist, in small ensembles and is much in demand for thorough continuo parts. Rudolf Merinsky is an active researcher of musical archives, principally for his concert repertoire. He is also a teacher, as the younger generation of lutenists will testify.
Lute Songs in 16th & 17th century Europe (F1 0017)
Sephardic Songs (F1 0047)
The Golden Age of the Lute of Bohemia (F1 0057)
Jiri Stivin
The Czech multi-instrumentalist Jiri Stivin (flutes, saxophones, instruments of his own construction, occasionally sonic happenings) is involved in the fields of jazz and classical music since the 60's. His well-oriented, informal attitudes are reflected both in his composing work and in his long-term teaching activity. On jazz stages, he met, among others, with Barre Philips, Zbygniew Seifert, Tony Scott, Pierre Favre, in the domain of ancient music he works as a soloist with the Virtuosi di Praga, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Slovak Chamber Orchestra and Pro arte antiqua Praha, the ensemble performing on period instruments. He is the leader of the group Collegium Quodlibet.
Flute Music from the Age of Renaissance (F1 0032)
Telemann: Chamber Concertos for Recorder and Viola da gamba (F1 0058)
Journeys Deep Into the Musical Past (F1 0084)
Alchymia Musicae (F1 0044)
Inspiration By Folklore (F1 0004)
Live at AghaRTA Jazz Club (F1 0055)
Jaroslav Tuma
Organist, harpsichord and clavichord performer, improviser, composer and teacher Jaroslav Tuma was born in Prague. Here he also graduated at the conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts under professor Milan Slechta and Zuzana Ruzickova. During his studies he was awarded prizes at international competitions, for example, for his organ performances in Linz, Prague, and Leipzig. He has won competitions for improvisation on the organ in Nuremburg (1980) and Haarlem (1986). He has taken part in various festivals (The Prague Spring, Internationale Orgelwoche in Nuremburg, Musikfestspiele Dresden, the Flanders Festival) and he is also a member of the jury at a number of others. He has been teaching at the Academy of Performing Arts since 1990. He records for radio, television and numerous record labels. Jaroslav Tuma concentrates on Renaissance, Baroque and early Classicist works and he enjoys performing on historical instruments or their copies. His concerts also regularly include music from the 20th century. He has visited most of the countries of Europe and he has given concerts and lectures in the USA, Japan and Singapore. He performed the whole of Bach's organ repertoire in Prague during the years 1990 - 1993.
Bach: Inventions & Sinfonias, Duets, BWV 772 - 805 (F1 0076)
Mozart: Sonatas for Flute and Harpsichord, KV 10-15 (F1 0023)
Organ Improvisation (F1 0064)
Tomasek: Eclogues, op. 35 & 51 (F1 0086)
Rejcha: Sonatas and Fugues (F1 0096)
Michael & Pavel Verner
Pavel Verner (1934), solo oboist of the Prague Symphonic, is the laureate and multiple soloist of the International Music Festival Prague Spring and of the other festivals, e.g. in Lausanne, Paris, Los Angeles. He is professor at the Prague Conservatory (since 1971), the member of chamber ensembles Musica da Camera Praga (since 1968) and Ars Rediviva (since 1969) and of the elite Chamber Orchestra of Europe Soloists residents at Luxembourg. He found the "family" ensemble Verner Collegium.
Michael Verner (1960), son of Pavel Verner, won the prize of the youngest finalist of the international competition Prague Spring in 1980. He is also the absolute prize winner of the Wind Instruments Competition in Teplice. At the present time he is the solo bassoon player of the Symphonic Orchestra of Prague Radio Broadcasting, the member of Pachta's Chamber Harmony and ensembles Ars Rediviva, Symposium Musicum and the "family" Verner Collegium.
Stamic, Stamitz: Oboe & Bassoon Works (F1 0016)
Telemann: Sonatas (F1 0015)
Ivan Zenaty
Violinist Ivan Zenaty first became known to the musical public in 1982 by winning a prize in the Tchaikowsky Competition in Moskow. His first international success was later completed by the First Prize in the Prague Spring Competition in 1987, the title of laureate at the International Tribune of Young Performers UNESCO (1989), and the Main Prize Master Courses R. Ricci in Berlin connected with engagement as a soloist with the Berliner Symphoniker. He graduated from the Prague Academy of Musical Arts under Nora Grumlikova, took private lessons by Josef Suk, at master courses in Zurich and Weimar his teachers were N. Milstein, A. Gertler and I. Bezrodny. Ivan Zenaty performs on concert platforms all over Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa, records CDs in the Czech Republic and the United States. He has been a guest soloist with prominent orchestras (the Czech Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Radio Stuttgart, English Chamber Orchestra a.o.), since 1988 he has been a permanent soloist with the Prague Symphonic Orchestra. He has already performed 40 different concerts with an orchestra; he is the art director of the ensemble Capella "Sancta Caecilia" whose activity focuses on interpretation of baroque and classical music. Twentieth century music rates among Ivan Zenaty's leading interests as well.
Benda: Violin Sonatas (F1 0022)
Stockhausen: Tierkreis / Zodiac (F1 0030)
Zach: Sinfonias (F1 0033)
Agon
Agon Orchestra was formed in 1983, as a platform for a group of young Czech composers and musicians whose activities developed outside the boundaries of the cultural establishment of that time. Beside these Czech composers, Agon presented numerous Czech premieres of works by, for example, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Arvo Part, Steve Reich or Giacinto Scelsi. After 1989 Agon produced and performed several thematic cycles centred on avant-garde and cross-over tendencies in new music - from micro-tonal music, though Czech new music of the 1960s and an anthology of Czech and world avant-garde, to graphic and conceptual scores; as well as the project alternative, where Agon presented experimental works by Czech rock musicians, visual and performance artists. The members of Agon come from diverse backgrounds such as the Czech Philharmonic, State Opera or modern jazz and alternative rock circles. With the help of a combination of acoustic and amplified instruments the sound of Agon gains the aggressivity of a rock band together with the precision of a chamber ensemble performing classical music. Agon has to date appeared both on small domestic stages, and at prestigious international festivals in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom, USA and has produced a number of recordings for radio, TV, and record companies. In 1994 Agon received the Golden HarmonyAward for the best CD of contemporary Czech music.
Agon - Contemporary Music Ensemble Prague (F1 0018)
Czech New Music of the 1960s (F1 0048)
Antiquarius Consort Praga
is an ensemble that emerged out of a desire to play early music as it most probably sounded when it was written. For the 'authentic interpretation' of early music Antiquarius Consort Praga brought together leading specialists/players of period instruments in the Bohemian Lands. Their guiding principle has been the systematic study of archive records to discover period details that they then join with a high degree of personal sensitivity - the key to discovering and communicating the true picture of the spiritual legacy of the past.
The extent of the repertoire of Antiquarius Consort Praga covers the period from the emergence of the Baroque violin, the Late Renaissance and Early Baroque, to the best works of known and unknown composers of the High Baroque. The instrumental makeup of the ensemble enables the interpretation of a vast amount of compositions from the pre-Classical period in the Bohemian Lands, as well as Viennese Classicism and Early Romanticism. The concert programme of Antiquarius Consort Praga includes solo compositions for strings or keyboards, trio sonatas, string quartets, astonishing period arrangements of Beethoven's symphonies for string quintet, as well as vocal works and partitas for small chamber orchestras.
Antiquarius Consort Praga endeavours to retain all the features of authenticity used in period notation, instruments, bows, gut strings, tunings, and the means of completing the parts with ornaments. The personal mission of all the players is to bring the music to the listener in the form it was played in its day by the best professionals, with the full wealth of effects and adeptness of variation. The individual members of the ensemble have separately recorded many CDs for the Czech label ARTA Records and the Japanese company Pony Canyon.
Valerius Otto: Prague Dances 1611 (F1 0088)
Frantisek Ignac Antonin Tuma: Trio Sonatas (F1 0093)
Rejcha: Flute Quartets, Op.98 / 1,5,6 (F1 0099)
Dvorak: "Slavonic & American" String Quartets (F1 0114)
Capella "Sancta Caecilia"
On Ivan Zenaty's iniciative the Capella "Sancta Caecilia" was formed in 1992, intended to perform the music of the 18th century played on authentic historical instruments. The members of this ensemble are at the same time either members of the Czech Philharmonics (Jan Simon, Vit Mach) or renowned soloists (Gabriela Demeterova, Petr Hejny, Jaroslav Tuma, Ivan Zenaty).
The laureate of the Tchaikowsky Competition in Moskow (1982) and the winner of the Prague Spring Competition (1987) Ivan Zenaty is an internationally acknowledged violinist, playing concerts regularly throughout Europe, Asia, and in both Nothern and Latin Americas. He records in the Czech Republic and USA and has been invited as a guest soloist by many outstanding world orchestras (Czech Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Radio Stuttgart, English Chamber Orchestra etc.). He has already performed 40 different concerts with an orchestra. Twentieth century music rates among Zenaty's leading interests as well.
Zach: Sinfonias (F1 0033)
Capella Regia
The ensemble was formed in 1992, when a group of young musicians, enthusiastic about "period interpretation" of Baroque music, made a recording of compositions by Adam Michna z Otradovic. At present Capella Regia comprises five singers (or sometimes six) accompanied with harpsichord or organ. They are joined for larger projects by other regular collaborators, including leading vocalists and instrumentalists and even chamber orchestras and choirs. The ensemble uses exclusively historical instruments or copies of them and today it brings together the best soloists in the field of interpretation of Renaissance and Baroque music. Capella Regia is known to the music-loving public for performing a large repertoire of Bohemian music from the seventeenth and eighteenth century. For as long as it has existed the ensemble has performed also contemporary preimeres of pieces such as three Good Friday Oratorios by Jan Dismas Zelenka: I Penitenti al Sepolchro del Redentore (Supplicants at the Sepulchre of the Saviour), Gesu al Calvario (Calvary), and Il Serpente del Bronzo (The Bronze Serpent), the basic works of Adam Michna z Otradovic (St Wenceslas Mass, Requiem, Te Deum, Magnificat, and select Czech songs), the Te Deum by Jiri Melzel, the Te Deum by Philipp Jakob Rittler, and the Missa Salvatoris by Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky. In the year 2000 Capella Regia put together and performed a contemporary world preimere of the S Wenceslaso oratorio by Antonio Draghi. The ensemble's repertoire also includes a number of oratorios by Giacomo Carissimi. Among the larger projects of Capella Regia, the stage performance, during the 1992-93 season, of Emilio di Cavalieri's opera Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo at the Janacek Theatre, Brno, deserves special mention. Capella Regia has recorded CDs of Michna's St Wenceslas Mass (Svatovaclavska mse) and Requiem (which received the Czech award Gramy Klasik in 1993), Zelenka's oratorio I Penitenti al Sepolchro del Redentore, Brixi's organ concerto and the Czech Christmas Mass by Jan Jakub Ryba. The ensemble regularly appears in the Prague concert series of early music organized by FOK. It also collaborates with the Italian Cultural Institute in the Passione Festival, and has performed in festivals such as La Semaine Sainte, Caen, Mai de Paris and Festival Westdeutscher Rundfunk, in Herne. It has also participated in a number of festivals in the Czech Republic, including those in Brno, Litomysl, Beroun, Kutna Hora, Telc, Valtice and the Concentus Moraviae Festival. Recent appearances abroad include performances in Cracow (2000) and the Festival of Early Music, Vilnius (2000). The Capella Regia ensemble is supported by Prague City Hall.
Michna: Officium vespertinum (F1 0104)
Dolezal Quartet
Thanks to its untiring and exceptionally successful artistic career, the Dolezal Quartet has acquired a place among the top elite chamber ensembles. Since its founding in 1972 by viola player Karel Dolezal, the ensemble has been given sundry awards at international competitions, prestigious concerts and festivals. The ensemble was the winner of the Prague Spring quartet competition in 1975, it won the silver medal at a competition in Bordeaux and in 1989 won a prize awarded by the Czech Association for Chamber Music within the Czech Philharmonic. The Dolezal Quartet undertakes a number of foreign tours every year and its interpretation of the music it performs, grown from the roots of the world famous Czech quartet school, is highly valued in many countries. The ensemble is frequently invited back to perform in various countries, particularly in France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Austria. The quartet has also played in England, Spain and Portugal, and it received an exceptionally warm reception in the concert halls of Japan.
Dvorak: String Quartet Op. 105, Cypresses (F1 0063)
Janacek: String Quartets (F1 0034)
Fibich, Smetana: String Quartets (F1 0072)
Mondschein Ensemble
was established in 1995 as the result of the regular cooperation of a number of Prague performers and composers. These musicians felt a common need to create a permanent platform for the professional performance of contemporary music via a stable musical body working in Prague. The aim of the ensemble is to work on the detailed, specialised interpretation of new works and, in so doing, to encourage the appearance of demanding works written especially for this ensemble. The basis of the Mondschein ensemble's repertoire incorporates music written by Czech composers of the young generation which complements contemporary music from abroad and also certain works from the classics of new music.
The End of the 20th Century in Czech Music (F1 0073)
Graham: Der Erste / chamber music (F1 0091)
Pudlak: A Winged Creature (F1 0101)
Musica Bohemica
is a chamber ensemble with a tradition of more than 25 years. It plays historical, contemporary, anonymous and folk music. In historical music it dedicated itself mainly to confrontation of Czech and European baroque music, at present it focusses on music of sacred orientation. Unique is their interpretation of anonymous and folk music. It employs copies of original instruments, produced and used by Jaroslav Krcek, the leader of the ensemble and his friends. Krcek ranges among distinguished Czech composers and is also known as musical supervisor of the Czech Radio and gramophone record companies.
Planicky: Opella ecclesiastica (F1 0045)
New Vlach Quartet
continues the rich traditions of Czech chamber music, being the successor of the famous Vlach Quartet. The ensemble was founded in 1982 and already in 1985 succeeded in winning the European primacy and the laureateship of the International Competition of String Quartets in Portsmouth, England. Outstanding personalities of chamber music as P. Buck (Melos Quartet), G. Nemeth (Bartok Quartet) and the violin virtuoso and conductor Yehudi Menuhin expressed their cordial sympathies with the spontaneous and mature art of the quartet.
Dvorak: String Quartets Op. 34 & 80 (F1 0014)
Orphee Sextet
Piano and Woodwind Quintet "Orphee" was named after the music God "Orpheus" in the Greek myths, who was also a master of a harp. Its name is associated with two Japanese Kanji (the Chinese characters used in Japan). It means the woodwinds producing music as if they are weaving a fine cloth.
After their debut concert at Tokyo in 1979 they are regularly asked for performances at different festivals in Japan and also perform at the major concert halls there. Orphee's repertoire is greatly characteristic and includes a lot of arrangements for sextet. The members - Shuhei Isobe, Katsuhisa Ohtaki, Yasuhiro Yamamoto - had arranged orchestral, violine and piano works, and even pop music. Later they also prepared some originals by Shuhei Isobe. Their concerts are very unique and the ensemble is recognized as one of the first chamber group which makes music so delightful and enjoyable in Japan. The first recording of Orphee - Another Peter and The Wolf (1980) received a high reputation and was indicated as the best recording of the month in the Band Journal magazine.
Poulenc: Sextet, Suite Francaise, Aubade (F1 0061)
Sextet Maskerade / Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Gliere, Isobe, Mozart - recital (F1 0060)
Pro arte antiqua Praha
is one of the most important Czech ensembles, which have chosen to follow the path of authentic early music interpretation. The ensemble was founded in 1984 by Jan Simon and it continues in the traditions laid down by the world famous ensemble Pro arte antiqua, which, during the period of its existence (1933-1974), performed many concerts at home and abroad and completed a number of recordings and radio productions. The link between those two ensembles is not merely abstract: Jan Simon Sr. played the viola da gamba in the original group from 1944.
Pro arte antiqua Praha entered the musical stage at the time of its founding under quite different circumstances. The "paternal" ensemble was once a pioneer in discovering and promoting music which historians knew only by their titles and from dusty museum documents. The new ensemble, however, was born at a time when the endeavour to produce an authentic interpretation of early music was progressing considerably, a time when, in England and in German-speaking countries, this endeavour had become a wide movement with strong roots in musical science, education, publishing and instrument-making. Pro arte antiqua Praha comprises graduates of the Prague Academy of Music and the Academy of Performing Arts who, with comprehensive study of archive material, try to find and bring together as many details as possible from period sources, the key to understanding the spiritual legacy of the past.
The basis of the repertoire of Pro arte antiqua Praha is Czech and world Renaissance and Baroque music. However, a further field of study is based on the interpretation of Classical works for which the ensemble also has the requisite instruments at its disposal. The ensemble's speciality is the unique use of an original collection of old viols and viola da gamba. The individual players also use the more familiar instruments (violin, violas and 'cellos) in their Baroque or Classicist form.
The ensemble attempts to maintain all attributes of authenticity by using period notation, instruments, bows and gut strings, period tuning and the method of embellishing parts with ornamentation. Their objective is to interpret music in the manner in which the most competent professionals performed in their day, with a whole range of moods and proficiency in variation. Pro arte antiqua Praha has given many successful concerts using an extensive repertoire and the ensemble also works with radio, television and recording companies.
Eine kleine Nachtmusik / Mozart, Myslivecek, Haydn, Boccherini (F1 0074)
Myslivecek: String Quintets (F1 0071)
Pichl, Mozart: Clarinet Music (F1 0079)
Purcell: Theatre Music (F1 0043)
Stamic: Orchestral Trios (F1 0083)
Telemann: Chamber Concertos for Recorder and Viola da gamba (F1 0058)
Vranicky: String Quartets Op. 23 (F1 0078)
Kvinterna
One of the main areas of interest of the members of Kvinterna is Christian and Jewish music from the thirteenth to the fiftheenth-century Europe. Apart from medieval Spanish songs such as those of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, its repertoire also includes Bohemian church music and music of the royal court, particularly that which was contemporary during the reign of Emperor Charles IV. Kvinterna is concerned with the reconstruction of Christian rituals and performs music inspired by medieval alchemy. An important part of all its performances is improvisation by its members, who also compose and then perform their own compositions. They use copies of period instruments and various "ethnic" instruments and often non-European, oriental influences, ornamentation, and rhythmic models appear in their music. Their aim in interpretation is to revive the inspirational multicultural environment of a former age. The ensemble renewed its activity in 1994 and since that time regularly performs at home and abroad. It takes part in various festivals of ancient and also alternative music. Kvinterna's concerts often have a theatrical quality, where the music is reinforced by movement and light. It collaborates with radio and television, and recently took part in the making of an American documentary film about alchemy in Bohemia. Previous recordings by Kvinterna include Dvorska hudba doby Karla IV [Music of the Court from the Time of Charles IV], used in the film Magister Theodoricus, which was part of the 1998 National Gallery exhibition of the same name in Prague, and Ritualy stredoveku [Rituals of the Middle Ages], an album containing oracle songs of the Sibyl and songs celebrating the Black Madonna of Montserrat. The following CD "Medieval Inspiration" was an alchemistic project where Kvinterna members work on musical themes on the basis of our own improvisation, our experience of interpretation as a group, and astrological predestination.
La Rosa Enflorece (F1 0105)
Medieval Inspiration (F1 0095)
Flos florum (F1 0115)
Landscape of Sweet Sorrow (F1 0125)
Ritornello
Ritornello *) is a chamber-music ensemble which arranges and performs mainly sixteenth and seventeenth-century music. The players, each specializing in certain kinds of music, alternate with one another, depending on the style. The core of Ritornello comprises three or four musicians, each of whom often plays several instruments. The musicians conduct their own research into the music for the repertoire and also publish (including sheet music and works on hymns and organs). Ritornello seeks to rescue certain compositions from the "serious music" category and return them to their proper place among the basic needs of men and women, as a universal language, by using small and even the smallest musical forms (the song, the dance) in their own elegance and rawness: a Baroque-Romantic "Return". The ensemble uses period instruments or faithful copies of them (including the lute, theorbo, Baroque guitar, hurdy-gurdy, Renaissance and Baroque bagpipes, positive, cornetts, dulcian, Renaissance trombones, shawms, chalumeaux, flutes, fifes, violas da braccio and da gamba, Baroque violins, and drums), old tunings and pitches, and original instrumental and vocal techniques. The individual repertoires draw from various historical music genres: music of the church, the home, dance music, music of the street, of towers (fanfares), and music for feasts. Apart from concert performances Ritornello plays for church services, gallery openings, receptions, literary soirees, conferences, and film scores. With the repertoire and arrangements of its recordings, it seeks to fill the gap left after the disappearance of "everyday feast" music.
*) Ritornello (It. to return again, dim.) means "a little return", the repetition of a small part, a refrain, a simple interlude, to be played or sung. This simple device of form, which is typical of Early Baroque and Mannerist music, signals the mutual disconnection of vocal and instrumental music. Its advantages are that is concise, easy to remember, pleasing to the ear (so encourages repetition), links parts together, and provides continuity. A word of many meanings, signifying "Return!"
The Carnival Has Arrived / Masopust juz nastal (F1 0085)
Michna: The Czech Lute (F1 0075)
Michna: Missa super (F1 0120)
Old Czech Carols (F1 0103)
A-Birding We Will Go!/ Hunting Songs of Baroque Bohemia (F1 0108)
Rozmberk Consort
The original Rozmberk Consort was active from 1552 to 1602 at the Castle in Cesky Krumlov (Krumau, in German) and then in Trebon, and it contributed to the glory of the south Bohemian court of the brothers Vilem and Petr Vok of Rozmberk from the mid-sixteenth to the early seventeenth centuries.
The modern Rozmberk Consort was founded in 1974 by Frantisek Pok. In the thirty years of its existence a number of excellent musicians have played in the ensemble, it has undergone a change of generations, and has survived even after the departure of its founder and long term artistic director. (Events that have in other cases led to the decline and break-up of exceptionally successful music groups.) At the time of its founding it was unique in the country. Today, as well, when the interpretation of early music has become more widespread, it maintains its uniqueness thanks to its rich experience, enduring contacts with ensembles abroad (made when performing at international early-music festivals), and owing to its high professional standards. These standards stem from the fact that all its members are professional musicians working in major ensembles in Prague (including the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the State Opera, and the Karlin Music Theatre). The players are united by an interest in early music and a willingness to master several now unusual instruments, which in earlier centuries was something taken for granted.
The musical versatility and flexibility both of the individual members and of the ensemble as a whole enable them as interpreters to cover a diverse range of instrumental and vocal music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The range of instruments of the Rozmberk Consort is remarkable, comprising about forty string, wind, keyboard, and percussion instruments. They are used in various combinations to evoke aural pictures of music of different eras. Some of the instruments come from the Pok workshop; others are replicas of historical instruments by specialized makers.
The arrangements of the compositions respect the rules of early-music interpretation. They also put emphasis on timbre, variety, and original emotional effect. They resonate with natural musicality, which is undoubtedly appreciated by listeners today as much as it was five hundred years ago. In this way the Rozmberk Consort has secured for itself the lasting favour of audiences young and old and of different educational backgrounds. Regardless of its success on tours abroad it is just as certain to create an unforgettable atmosphere at an educational concert in some remote corner of the Czech Republic as it is at a renowned international festival.
Apart from its own vinyl and CD recordings the ensemble has recorded for European radio stations, including ORF in Austria, WRD, Deutschland Radio Berlin, Radio Nacional de Espana, Greek Radio, and, repeatedly, for Czechoslovak and, later, Czech Radio.
Together with Czech Television the Rozmberk Consort has made a few programmes of its own (for example, in the "Best of the Classics" series), and has recorded soundtracks for Czech and foreign films.
Touring abroad and performing at festivals has taken the Rozmberk Consort to Greece (1982, 1984, and 1988), Sweden (1987 and 1991), Spain (1995, 1998, and 2001), Malta (1996), Switzerland (1989, 1993, 1995, and 1998), Wales (1996), and Luxembourg (2004).
Courtly Music of the Renaissance (F1 0126)
Verner Collegium
The chamber ensemble Verner Collegium by its instrumentation seems almost predetermined to the interpretation of this kind of music. It records and plays concerts at the Czech Republic as well as abroad. Above all, critics appreciate the tonal quality, spontaneity of expression and unity of the style's conception, cultivated by years of common effort and by the heritage of talent. Spiritual friendship and admiration for the music of the 18th century are the main inspirational sources of the ensemble, which consists of its leader Pavel Verner (the solo oboe player of the Prague Symphonics), his sons Peter (the violist of the New Vlach Quartet) and Michael (the solo bassoon player of the Symphonic Orchestra of Prague Radio Broadcasting). The basso continuo part is interpreted by Frantisek Xaver Thuri (oboe professor at the Prague Conservatory) and by the leader's nephew Pavel Verner jr. (concert-master of the Smetana Theatre in Prague).
Telemann: Sonatas (F1 0015)