The Many Loves of Antonín Dvořák - 3 CD

This three-CD collection commemorates the 180th anniversary of Antonín Dvořák’s birth with a rich selection from his chamber, orchestral and vocal works. It features outstanding performers whose recordings were made in the second half of the 20th century and remain exemplary in many cases, including conductors of the Czech Philharmonic such as Talich, Ančerl, Neumann, Bělohlávek, Sawallisch and Mackerras, instrumentalists including Rostropovich, May, Suk and Panenka, singers such as Soukupová, Beňačková, Urbanová, Blachut and Novák, choral conductors Jan and Pavel Kühn, and the Prague, Dvořák, Smetana and Panocha Quartets. The album is curated by Patrick Lambert, a longtime producer for BBC Radio 3 and a devoted expert on Czech music. His selection is organized around themes to which Dvořák had a strong and lively connection: nation and homeland, the Slavic soul, nature, God and religion, family, and humor. Alongside several familiar works, often in less familiar recordings, the collection presents many less frequently heard pieces, including the choral work In Nature, Love Songs, Poetic Moods, the Wind Serenade, and scenes from the operas Dimitrij and The Jacobin.