May 2008 News Archive

Page last updated 11 December 2008 | RSS feed >> | Twitter >>

New CD of Vítězslava Kaprálová chamber music released by Koch Records includes 7 première recordings

First posted 13 May 2008

The Dvořák Society has received the following message from our good friends at the Kaprálová Society containing very important news —

Text of message from: The Kaprálová Society
To: friends of the Kaprálová Society
Subject: Kaprálová’s chamber music released by Koch Records
Dear members of the Kaprálová Society:
I am very happy to inform you that Koch International Classics (New York) has just released a very unique compact disc featuring the chamber music of Czech composer Vítězslava Kaprálová. The project was financially assisted by our society.
Performed by one of the finest pianists of her generation, Virginia Eskin (Boston), and the brilliant violin player Stephanie Chase (New York), the music on this disc includes all three major piano works composed by Kaprálová (Sonata, Preludes, and Variations), two of them released for the first time, and the composer’s complete output for violin and piano, also never before released on record.
The CD features the following compositions (also available in print, details at www.kapralova.org/EDITION.htm)
Five Compositions for Piano, op 1 — piano solo, (world première recording)
Legend, op 3a — violin and piano (world première recording)
Burlesque, op 3b — violin and piano (world première recording)
Sonata Appassionata, op 6 — piano solo (world première recording)
Little Song (1936) — piano solo (world première recording)
April Preludes, op 13 — piano solo
Variations sur le Carilon de l’Église St-Etienne-du-Mont, op 16 — piano solo (world première recording)
Elegy (1939) — violin and piano (world première recording).
These rare recordings are now available through Koch Records and a variety of outlets, including amazon.com, cduniverse.com, ArkivMusic.com, Tower.com, and others. For detailed information on the above release please visit our website at www.kapralova.org/PROJECT3.htm
Help us promote this wonderful new release and bring it to the attention of your friends and networks. And please, buy a copy of this CD, if you can. It is only commercial success that persuades labels and publishers to take risk with unknown material, and Kaprálová’s music is undoubtedly worth the risk.
Thank you for your kind support.
KARLA HARTL
The Kaprálová Society

www.dvorak-society.org

top of this page return to main news archive page

Bohumil Fidler “My Life and Memories”: first English edition of memoirs edited by Sonya Szabo Reynolds and published by Dvořák Society

First posted 20 May 2008

Bohumil Fidler
© Szabo Reynolds

Bohumil Fidler (1860 – 1944) was an active composer, choirmaster, choral conductor and music teacher. He was born in Příbram, southern Bohemia, where he spent his working life and eventually died.

Fidler’s compositions include Missa brevi, two Pastorale Masses, a celebratory Mass for mixed choir, soloists, orchestra and organ, and numerous smaller works for chorus as well as songs for solo voice. For the stage he wrote music for two fairy tales: Mikeš Lomidrevo and Zvířátka a Petrovští (the Little Petrov Animals). His Slovanský valčík (Slavonic Waltz) was composed for the Příbram Philharmonic Orchestra and there were military band compositions.

Vysoká and Fidler’s friendship with Dvořák

The town of Příbram is quite close to Dvořák’s summer home at Vysoká, a fact which facilitated the friendship between the two men, although the friendship first developed after Fidler sent Dvořák a letter investigating the prospect of performing one of Dvořák’s choral works. Fidler chronicled the friendship as well as their country’s musical culture in his book, My Life and Memories, published in the original Czech in 1935. Now, Fidler’s great granddaughter, Dvořák Society member Sonya Szabo-Reynolds, has edited the first English translation of his memoirs, which the Dvořák Society has published in its Occasional Publications series … more >>

• Publication launched at Leamington Czech Music weekend

The publication of the book was launched at the recent Czech Music Festival in Leamington Spa (2 – 6 May 2008), which was promoted by Leamington Music, in association with the Dvořák Society. Sonya Szabo Reynolds, who is a Society member, flew in from the United States to attend the festival and the launch. The photograph opposite shows her at the launch, standing in front of an exhibition of material on the subject of Leamington’s Czech Patriots and the Heydrich Assassination.

• About Sonya Szabo Reynolds

Sonya’s Hungarian father and Czech mother first met in Luhov just after the Second World War, and emigrated to the United States in 1951. Born after the death of her great grandfather, Bohumil Fidler, she grew up aware of him only through the few photos and copy of his memoirs tucked away in the home library. She felt proud following in his footsteps by deciding to study music, receiving her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in piano performance from the University of Michigan. Currently, she teaches piano at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio and is an active recitalist. She and her husband, conductor Patrick Reynolds, enjoy travelling and are particularly fond of London, where they often spend their summers.

Sonya recalls:

“When I was growing up, I was extremely intrigued by the portrait of Bohumil Fidler in the family photo album, but his world seemed mysterious and remote to me then. Later, when I made the decision to study music, my uncle Karl gave me the only original letter written by Dvořák that remained in our family, and for me it provided the tangible connection to that earlier time and place.”