Gift set 1704

ABOUT THE RECORDING

Smetana’s Má vlast has assumed a unique standing in Czech music and beyond, and it also embodies a powerful societal message and a remarkable performance tradition. Complete performances of the whole cycle are always a special event, and many such performances have been given in important historical contexts. The first complete recording of Má vlast made in 1929 with the conductor Václav Talich was also the very first phonograph recording of the Czech Philharmonic.
Likewise of enormous historical and artistic value is a radio broadcast recording of a performance at the National Theatre on 5 and 9 June 1939, again with the Czech Philharmonic and Václav Talich. More than 80 years after the fact, it is still overwhelming to hear this enormously emotional performance of Má vlast and the public’s spontaneous reaction less than three months after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. Ever since the inaugural Prague Spring Festival in 1946, Má vlast has remained firmly in place on the programme of the festival’s opening concert on 12 May, the anniversary of Bedřich Smetana’s death. The conductors Karel Ančerl and Rafael Kubelík also gave legendary performances that made their mark on the festival’s history. The Prague Spring Festival opening concert in 1990 and the repeat performance the next day before a huge crowd at Prague’s Old Town Square with Rafael Kubelík conducting shortly after the fall of Czechoslovakia’s communist regime became a celebration of freedom. The performances of Má vlast on 12 and 13 May 2021 heard on this live recording also took place under extraordinary circumstances. After many long months, when the Covid pandemic had practically brought cultural life to a halt all over Europe, this performance, prepared under special circumstances, was a unique opportunity for a live public to experience a live concert, even if there were many limitations. It was therefore with all the greater intensity that those present experienced the moment and realised how sharing live music is a value that cannot be replaced.