Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Young Person's Guide to the orchestra, op. 34

Ilja Hurník (1922-2013)
Quatre saisons, suite de chambre
Ondras, musique de ballet

Václav Dobiás (1909-1978)
Cantate "Construis ta patrie, tu renforceras la paix"

Jan Kapr (1914-1988)
Cantate "Au Pays des Soviets"

Julius Kalas (1902-1967)
Poème symphonique "Le Rossignol et la Rose", op. 81

Viktor Kalabis (1923-2006)
Concerto pour violon et orchestre n° 1, op. 17

Jan Seidel (1908-1998)
Concerto pour hautbois et orchestre n° 2

Ivan Jirko (1926-1978)
Concerto pour piano et orchestre n° 3 en sol majeur

Petr Eben (1929-2007)
Concerto pour piano et orchestre

Pavel Borkovec (1894-1972)
Symphonie pour grand orchestre n° 2

Orchestre Philharmonique Tchèque
Karel Ancerl, direction

On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of the conductor Karel Ancerl the "final word" remains to be said within the Ancerl Gold Edition. The four CDs sum up the work of Ancerl's contemporaries, with the exception of Britten's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra", that of Czech composers. The set bears unprecedented witness to the 1950s and 1960s, the period when the Communist powers that be decided on taste and composition trends, and when the criterion for acceptance or rejection of a work was its "mass appeal" and the degree of consonance with the "Socialist Realism" style. The excellent Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with its internationally sought-after conductor is here involuntarily in the services of propagandist kitsch (Dobias's cantata "Build Up Your Country to Reinforce the Peace", Kapr's panegyric cantata "In the Soviet Country"). However, concurrently originating were also a number of recordings of remarkable works by composers who were able to withstand ideological pressures. Alongside folklore inspiration (evident, for example, in the ballet "Ondras" by Ilja Hurnik and Seidl's oboe concerto), neoclassical influences and "genetic" linkages to the work of Janacek, Dvorak, Suk and Novak were still palpable, while also present was the seeking of a singular and contemporary musical language (Eben, Borkovec, Kalabis). Paradoxically, today's young composers could envy their counterparts of half a century ago - many a time their compositions experienced paramount concert performance and recording within a short time from the last note drying out in the score. The 4 CD set mapping the post-February 1948 Czech compositional scene rounds off the Ancerl Gold Edition - a testimony of an epoch of our modern musical history.