Bedrich Smetana: Ma Vlast - Prague Radio Sym Orch [LP]

An exceptional, highly acclaimed performance of Ma vlast, now on vinylIn the span of only a few years, Petr Popelka has ascended swiftly tothe forefront of the international conducting elite. Popelka serves asthe chief conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and ofthe Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and he appears as a guest with topEuropean and American orchestras and at opera theatres around the world.He definitely sees Smetana not merely as a "compulsory Czech classic",but instead as a great love and an opportunity for artistic discovery. "Hismasterpiece Ma vlast should be done a bit like an opera, like a grandnarrative... It is absolutely unique in the history of music, as a cycle of tonepoems with the composer's native land as it's theme, and above all, thereis no work that has ever been written with greater love." The album wasreleased in 2024 on CD (and in the format Dolby Atmos as well, incidentally)to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Bedrich Smetana's birth. Througha combination of musicality and uncompromising attention to details,the conductor and orchestra were able to give an extraordinarily finelycrafted performance. This is not just one more of the countless recordingsof Ma vlast, as is shown by enthusiastic reviews from around the world:in February 2025, the magazine Gramophone honoured the album asthe Editor's Choice, and the December issue of the French magazineDiapason announced it as the winner of the Diapason d'Or de l'Annee inthe symphonic music category. The April 2026 release of this vinyl editionof Ma vlast commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Prague RadioSymphony Orchestra's founding.