SMETANA: Má Vlast [CD de audio] Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, Smetana and Theodore Kuchar

Bedich Smetana was a forerunner of the Nationalist music movement in 19thcentury Czechoslovakia, and played a large part in developing the countrys musical identity. This disc comprises Smetanas most renowned work, the inimitable Má vlast (My Homeland), a series of six tone poems composed over five years that depict different elements of the landscape of the composers native country. Vyehrad, or The High Castle, is the first movement, based on the castle in Prague the residence of early Czech kings. It opens with arpeggios played by a duo of harps, and later a military element is portrayed with the help of a march theme. The second movement Vltava (The Moldau), depicts the route of the river from the mountains to its end. árka, the third movement, explores the Czech folklore centred on the Bohemian Amazon maiden of the same name. This is followed by Z eských luh a háj (From Bohemias Meadows and Fields); a depiction of a beautiful landscape on a sunny day. These first four movements wer