Tomorrow, a new disk from the Pittsburgh Symphony hits the street. It's a recording of music of Czech composers Antonin Dvorak and Leos Janacek, from a concert performed earlier this season at Heinz Hall.
The Dvorak Symphony no. 8 is well done, as you might expect from this group. The other selection on the disk is a creation of conductor Manfred Honeck, working in conjunction with Tomas Ille (who is also a Czech composer and arranger). Jenufa is an opera by Janacek, and the "Symphonic Suite from Jenufa" is derived from the opera score. Officially, the piece was "conceptualized" by Honeck, but evidently the heavy lifting on the actual arrangement was done by Ille.
I'll admit to not being familiar with Jenufa--and frankly, I'm not a huge Janacek fan--but I found the suite quite interesting, and more appealing than I expected.
So there you have it, a disk containing Czech music both old and new (so to speak). Explore it if you like.
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