Smetana: Triumphal Symphony & Overture and Dances from The Bartered Bride

Idioma disponível: inglês

Being honest, with the exception of Má Vlast – and really just the Moldau – and the opening of The Bartered Bride, the works of Smetana are just not really known, at least not on this side of the Vltava. Of course, everyone knows that he was the founding father of Czech national music, who broke ground later ploughed by Dvořák, Suk, Martinů and Janáček, but his grandfatherly role seems to have won him more honour than it did audiences for his music. In his own time, the very idea of the Czech nation was quite fluid; in 1854, when Smetana wrote his Festive Symphony Op. 6, he worked in various references... including the imperial anthem of the Habsburg monarchy! It's a theme from Haydn, but all the same, the allusion might have ruffled a few nationalist feathers... And it's still ruffling them today! And for that reason, this symphony – the only work by Smetana in this format – has remained largely ignored. So we should welcome this new release. The programme is rounded off with a chance to enjoy re-discovering the vivid overture of The Bartered Bride of 1866, as well as three typical dances which were added to the score three years later: a polka, a furiant and a general dance, all very famous pieces today, and with good reason. © SM/Qobuz