Czech folder

[Sydney Grew]

Two very melodious and pleasant works from composers whose names have until this week been completely off my radar:

The Pianoforte Concerto (1939) of Emil Axman (1887 to 1949), and the First Symphony of Luboš Fišer (1935 to 1999).

It is rather odd, but I cannot find the year of composition of the Fišer symphony anywhere. Apparently he wrote two,  but for some reason they are omitted from most lists; the date of the First is referenced in only one place, where it is assigned to the "late nineteen-fifties."

[Latvian]

It is rather odd, but I cannot find the year of composition of the Fišer symphony anywhere. Apparently he wrote two,  but for some reason they are omitted from most lists; the date of the First is referenced in only one place, where it is assigned to the "late nineteen-fifties."

According to Contemporary Czechoslovak Composers, edited by Cenek Gardavsky (Panton, Prague/Bratislava, 1965), they were written in 1956 and 1960, respectively.

[Dundonnell]

Frantisek Rauch-the soloist in the Axman Piano Concerto-is not a "lady pianist" He is definitely male

[Sydney Grew]

Oops - I was misled by the case endings; "pianista" - masculine nominative singular; "pianistka" feminine ditto. Correction duly made. I recognize now that he was also the soloist in the Eben concerto, posted earlier.

And many thanks to Latvian for seeking out those dates of the Fišer symphonies.

[eschiss1]

Rauch I think is also pianist in the Novak cello sonata LP recording from some while back (which I uploaded  I think- lovely piece...) and edited much Czech piano music.

[dax]

The Ancerl Symphonietta is a really remarkable piece - many thanks, Sydney, for posting it.
I hadn't previously realised that he composed at all. This is the only piece to which I can immediately find reference: there are presumably others?

[Sydney Grew]

Thanks Member Dax - but I am in the same boat as you; I just happened to hear this broadcast last week, and I couldn't find any information about other works.

What a wretchedly unhappy life he had!

[jowcol]

I am posting  Symphony 1 by Czech Composer Jiri Teml- Wikipedia entry below:



Born in Vimperk, Teml studied music theory and composition with Bohumil Dušek and Jiří Jaroch during the 1960s and early 1970s while working as an economist. His first major success as a composer came with his Fantasia appassionata for organ which took third prize at the 1972 Prague Spring Festival. In 1976 he became the head of music and a radio producer at Plzeň Radio. He left there in 1980 to join the staff of Czech Radio 3 in Prague where he worked as a producer of programs of classical music for over 20 years.

A prolific composer, Teml's output includes several symphonies, concertos, song cycles, choral works, children's operas, chamber music, art songs, and works for solo organ and piano. His writing displays an influence of Czech folk music and for many years he has collaborated with the Plzeň Radio folk ensemble.

(Source recording from the collection of Karl Miller)

[jowcol]

Jaroslav Doubrava
I've posted the 3rd Symphony and a fragment of his fourth in the Downloads section.   He's been described as a late Romantic with a "somber, dramatic style".



A little more information about him-- I didn't note the source, but it is not me.

Jaroslav Doubrava, born in Chrudim (Eastern Bohemia), died in Prague 2.10.1960. After having finished his studies he started his professional career as a secondary school teacher in several towns of the country, inclusive his native town. Concurrently, he studied the composition privately with Otakar Jeremiáš, the famous Prague composer (1936 – 40). Due to his successful composition effort the Czechoslovak Radio invited him as a musical editor in 1945. From 1955 up to his early death he worked as an independent composer. His civic and moral principles raised him to the position of artists, tolerated at best, but not favoured by state control. Nevertheless due to a temporary political thawing in the period of so-called "Prague Spring" he was awarded the price for creative work "in memoriam" in 1969.


He finished several compositions for stage performance: operas Midsummer Night's Dream (after W. Shakespeare), Christening of St Vladimir (unfinished), Ballad on Love (first night in the National Theatre in Prague, 1962), ballets: King Lavra and Don Quijote. He created further compositions: 3 symphonies, from 4th – unfinished- is performed its fragment (first part) titled The Autumn Pastoral, followed by number of chamber music - suites and sonatas (for violin and piano), as well as vocal music compositions (songs and choruses).

Doubrava's life and work are incorporated in the monograph "Composer in the Clench of Two Totalities" written by Jaromir Havlik (Akademie Muzickych umeni Praha, 2002).

[Latvian]

Music of  Jaroslav Doubrava...
Fragment "Autumn Pastorale" from unfinished Symphony 4
(Orchestra not known)
Vaclav Smetacek, conductor

The orchestra in question is the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, if the recording is taken from LP.

[JimL]

Can anybody pick out the orchestra and conductor of the Axman PC?  And is there anybody who can refer me to someplace I can look up the movement titles, or who has them by some chance?

[Sydney Grew]

Can anybody pick out the orchestra and conductor of the Axman PC? . . .

I can supply the first answer:

Pianist: František Rauch
Orchestra: Symfonický orchestr Českého rozhlasu (looks like Czech radio symphony orchestra)
Conductor: Josef Hrnčíř.

[JimL]

Love that Axman!  Want to get the movement titles so I can split and burn it.

[jowcol]

I have posted the Symphony by Otomar Kvěch (born 25 May 1950) , Czech music composer and teacher, in the downloads section.






From Wikipedia, if memory serves me:

Kvěch was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. His father was a sound engineer with Czechoslovak Radio, and later held technical jobs in various industrial companies. Kvěch's mother was shop-assistant.[1]

In 1955 he had his first lessons in piano. He prepared for three years for his entry exam to the Prague Conservatory, and graduated after studying composition with Jan Zdeněk Bartoš and organ with Joseph Kuban. After 1969 he studied composition at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts with Jiří Pauer and one semester with Emil Hlobil. After graduation he worked as an accompanist at the Opera National Theatre.

In 1972 he married Miluška Wagnerová, a fellow-student from his organ class, and had daughters Eva (b. 1974) and Martina (b. 1977).[1] In 1976 he returned from a yearlong national service in the Army Art Ensemble, and took a job as music director in Czechoslovak Radio. In 1980 he took a position as secretary of the Composers Union which allowed him better opportunities for composition.[2]

In 1990 political and social changes in his country forced Kvěch to return to a job at Czechoslovak Radio as programme manager and music editor. At the same time he began teaching music theory and composition at Prague Conservatory. In 2000 Kvěch's wife died, and three years later he married Dr. Jana Smékalová, long-time programme manager of Supraphon, and since 2000 employed at the Jewish Museum in Prague.[2]

As a composer, Kvěch adopted a number of technical elements (concepts of "colour") from "Musica Nova", and transplanted these into the "Classical" approach. Currently Kvěch is Head of the Department of Composition at the National Conservatory in Prague and teaches music analysis at the Academy of Music. He also works as a music editor at the Czech radio station Vltava.[1]

[Latvian]

Jiri Valek Symphony-Duoconcerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra
Hana Dvorakova, Stanislave Borgunia, pianos
Prague Symphony Orchestra
Libor Pesek, Conductor

This is actually Valek's Symphony No. 14, subtitled Symphony - Duo Concerto (out of a total of 19 symphonies).