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A lively showcase for a great central European orchestra at the Proms
Kapralova’s composition is a captivating thing, starting out with fanfares and strutting march rhythms before proceeding to, well, pretty much anything you can imagine. It’s unmistakably the work of a young composer; there’s that gleeful, kid-in-a-toyshop energy, with ideas and colours flying in all directions. Xylophone? Bring it on. What if the violins played the main theme on harmonics? Only one way to find out! It’s the composer’s superabundant imagination, rather than any more formal process, that makes the Military Sinfonietta so compelling – and in the light of her unfulfilled promise, so poignant.
From a review by Richard Bratby for The Spectator, September 7, 2024.

Silenced - Unsung Voices of the 20th Century, featuring tenor Ian Koziara and pianist Bradley Moore, shines a light on art songs by composers Franz Schreker, Vitezslava Kapralova, Viktor Ullmann, and Alexander von Zemlinsky, whose musical achievements were overshadowed by the oppression of the Third Reich. This recording marks the first time many of these art songs, traditionally performed by sopranos, are being recorded in the tenor voice. Described as "an exciting Wagner tenor" (New York Times) and "a wonderful artist" (Washington Post), Chicago native Ian Koziara has performed at leading venues including the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Glimmerglass, Teatro La Fenice, and Opera National du Capitole, among others. He sings regularly at Oper Frankfurt, where he recently starred in Franz Schreker's Der ferne Klang. Bradley Moore has served as associate Music Director at the Houston Grand Opera and assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and Salzburg Festival. He has performed as a piano soloist with orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic, and has collaborated in recital with artists such as Renee Fleming and Susan Graham. This recording explores the operatic and chromatically rich German harmonies of early 20th-century composers Franz Schreker (1878-1934) and Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942), alongside the esoteric textures of Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944), who wrote his Holderlin-Lieder and Drei Lieder, Op. 37 during his internment at the Terezin concentration camp. Vitezslava Kapralova (1915-1940), the least known and shortest-lived composer on the program, was a trailblazer as the first Czech woman to become a professional conductor and the first woman ever to conduct the Czech Philharmonic. Kapralova possessed extraordinary talent and technical virtuosity, and her passion for song and poetry are reflected on this program in sets such as Dve pisne, Op. 4 and Jablko s klina, Op. 10. Tragically, Kapralova's career was cut short by her untimely death at age 25.
Editorial review for amazon.com

A blazing Glagolitic Mass from Hrusa and the Czech Philharmonic at the Proms
Enterprisingly, the Czech Philharmonic began their second BBC Prom with Vitezslava Kapralova’s Military Sinfonietta: a protege of Martinu, the tragically short-lived Kapralovaá wrote it while she was still a student. It is immediately clear that she could handle large forces (including triple woodwind, six horns, percussion, harp, piano and celeste) with energy and confidence. On a first hearing, alternating fanfares and quieter episodes fall well short of fulfilling the expectations inevitably aroused by the title (Janacek had died less than a decade earlier): but then cellos and double basses introduce a lovely episode, with quiet timpani and muted brass, and I was won over. Like a Czech version of Vaughan Williams’s Cotswold rapture, the music seemed to open onto a vision of rolling countryside and made sense of Kapralova’s words quoted in the programme: ‘the composition does not represent a battle cry, but it depicts the psychological need to defend that which is most sacred to the nation’. The music is a brave and heartfelt response to the threat of imminent Nazi aggression – Hitler’s Special Military Operation, we might now say. It becomes faster and more brilliant, using a wide range of orchestral colours: a lovely trumpet solo, xylophone and bells, bass clarinet, stirring use of the horns; even fourfold bass drum strokes, recalling the shattering climax to the first movement of Suk’s Asrael Symphony the previous evening (Colin Clarke’s review here). Ominous fanfares resurface, but the work ends in an explosion of colour and optimism. I cannot imagine it ever being played with more sensitivity and conviction than it was here: almost as moving as last season’s performance of Dora Pejacevic’s symphony under Sakari Oramo. Pejacevic died at 37; Kapralova at only 25. Thank you, Czech Philharmonic and Jakub Hrusa, for bringing us her music.
From a review by Chris Kettle for Seen And Heard International, 30 August 2024.

Arcana at the Proms – Prom 50
Their previous Prom having set the bar high as regards playing or interpretation, Jakub Hrusa and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra equalled and maybe even exceeded it with a programme which once more ranged widely over what might be thought the ‘golden age’ of Czech music. The career of Vitezslava Kapralova (1915-40) represents one of those great ‘what ifs’ in 20th century music and works such as Military Sinfonietta confirm her already distinctive idiom. Despite involvement with Martinu, this is redolent more of interwar French music – notably Roussel – in its alternating between the extrovert and the ruminative; relative extremes held in check by ingenious adaptation of the four-movements-in-one design that draws maximum variety from its material while sustaining a cumulative momentum through to a return of the main theme for a powerful but never bombastic apotheosis. The CPO certainly relished these strongly drawn expressive contrasts, and Hrusa kept it on a tight though never inflexible rein with the sizable groups of woodwind and brass duly given their collective head at the close.
From a review by Richard Whitehouse for Arcana.FM on 30 August 2024.

Prom 50: Two rarities and a classic from Jakub Hruša and Czech Philharmonic
Kapralova conducted the Czech Philharmonic in the premiere at a gala in Prague in 1937, the first woman to conduct the orchestra. She conducted a performance in London in June 1938 for the International Festival of Contemporary Music, when she became the first woman to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Rather embarrassingly, given this link, the performance of her Military Sinfonietta is the first time any of her works have been performed at the Proms. Written for large orchestra, the work demonstrates confident and imaginative handling of the orchestral forces, along with a great sense of style.
From a review by Robert Hugill for Planet Hugill, 30 August 2024.

BBC Proms’ celebration of Czech music is sensuous and arresting
Ours is an era when the women composers of both past and present are newly honoured, but Kapralova (1915-40) achieved much in her own short life, even conducting this sinfonietta at the Queen’s Hall, London, in 1938. It is a confident, impressive, versatile work, military but never martial.
From a review by Alastair Macaulay for Financial Times, 29 August 2024.

Prom 50, Fujita, Czech Philharmonic, Hruša review - revelations where least expected.
It was Charles Mackerras who introduced me to the music of Vitezslava Kapralova, lending me a CD with her Military Sinfonietta leading the way. It piqued interest, but more as a sense of promise cut short: this abundantly gifted young woman, first female conductor of the Czech Philiharmonic at the age of 22 when she premiered the work, died three years later before fulfilling her genius. Last night’s performance of what might be more accurately called Semi-military Kaleidoscope, though it couldn’t have been finer than in the supple hands of Jakub Hrusa in his second Prom with the Czech Philharmonic, left a sense of regret at what might have been.. . . {M]y guest, at her first Prom this season, marvelled at the orchestral colours. As the starter of a second all-Czech programme, it was much more than a token gesture to a woman composer in what's often called the "parking lot" slot of a concert.
From a review by David Nice for theArtsdesk.com, 29 August 2024.

Prom 50 review - an unforgettable evening of Czech music
Displaying a keen ear for vivid orchestraton, Military Sinfonietta exudes youthful exuberance in every bar, and is full of inventiveness.
From a review by Keith McDonnell for Music OMH, 28 August 2024.

Prom 50: Czech Philharmonic. Jakub Hrusa conducts Vitezslava Kapralova’s Military Sinfonietta ...
The short-lived (through illness) Vitezslava Kapralova’s Military Sinfonietta (1937) opened the concert, a terrific piece, of swagger and pastoral reflection, of energy and expression, pulsation and reverie, with (these) English ears sometimes finding correspondences with Arthur Bliss’s music.
From a review by Colin Anderson for Colin's Column, 28 August 2024.

Prom 50 (Susan Elkin reviews)
Goodness knows why few of us have heard of Vitezlava Kapralova who died tragically young (aged 25). Maybe being female didn’t help. Her 1937 Military Sinfonietta has waited nearly 90 years for its first Proms performance. It’s an interesting piece, played here with splendid dynamic control. It was written as a patriotically defensive statement against Nazi incursion but was never intended to be aggressive. The tone is often wistful with attractive solo work from two violins and from oboe and bassoon. And I really liked the way Hrusa drove the relentless, escalating rhythm in the strings with brass over the top just before the end, then arriving at a rather moving, grand melody. This piece deserves to be heard more often.
From a review by Susan Elkin for her column at susanelkin.co.uk, 28 August 2024.

BBC Proms: Prom 50 – Czech Philharmonic, Hrusa.
As with the previous evening, the hall was packed out – there was a sense of real excitement in the air. Vitezslava Kapralova (born Brno 1915- died Montpellier 1940) is a short-lived twentieth-century Czech composer, though completely unknown to me, and this Sinfonietta dates from 1936 – she apparently conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in it in 1938. She is as you can see from the dates roughly a contemporary of Britten. Thinking about her, it is as though all we had of Britten’s musical output was limited to what he had composed up until the late 1930’s. It is clearly a tragedy that this composer died so young. The work is bright, clever – not unlike the Britten of the piano concerto, in fact – and held me totally throughout its ? 15 minute length. Who knows what she might have achieved had she lived even as long as Britten?
From a review published on johsmusicaljourney.org on 28 August 2024.

Janackova filharmonie laskyplne splatila dluh vuci Vitezslave Kapralove
Nahravka orchestralnich del Vitezslavy Kapralove v podani Janackovy filharmonie, dirigentky Aleny Hron, sopranistky Veroniky Rovne a pianisty Tomase Vrany zachycuje vsechny uvedene interprety na vrcholu svych sil. Orchestr hraje pod vedenim vychazejici dirigentske hvezdy s neskryvanym potesenim a elanem, ktery se zretelne prenasi do tvaru a koncepce hudebnich frazi, bezproblemové souhry a solidnich individualnich vykonu. Sila dirigentskeho pojeti Aleny Hron spociva v bytostne niternem souzneni s dilem a nespravedlivym osudem nesmirne talentovane autorky. Tvaruje jeji skladby jemne a ohleduplne jako vzacne fresky, ktere dlouho lezely bez povsimnuti.
From a review by Milan Bator for ostravan.cz, August 2024.

Vitezslava Kapralova: The Completed Orchestral Works. Janacek Philharmonic, Ostrava: Alena Hron (conductor), Tomas Vrana (piano), CPO 555568-2
Vitezslava Kapralova (1915–1940) is now beginning to get the attention and respect she fully deserves. This is mainly due to the efforts of the Kapralova Society formed in 1998 in Canada to alert the musical world to her forgotten genius. This new double CD from CPO of all her completed orchestral works is a welcome addition to the available recordings. By putting all the works together one can get a fuller picture of the extent and varied nature of her craft. ... Kapralova initially studied both composition and conducting at the Brno Conservatory and completed her studies there in June 1935. She conducted the first movement of her Piano Concerto with the conservatory orchestra on graduation. I was struck by the maturity and complexity of this very lively concerto with very wide orchestration and excursions into jazz syncopations in the final movement. ... The Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava play with great gusto and enthusiasm, well conducted by the young, up- and-coming conductor Alena Hron. Tomas Vrána plays the Piano Concerto and Partita with assuredness and dynamic robustness. The solo soprano Veronika Rovna gives a good account of the one song “Waving Farewell” on this CD. Overall, I would strongly recommend this CD as being of the highest quality and giving such a comprehensive study of this remarkable composer who is now emerging back into the limelight due to the excellence and variety of her oeuvre.
From a review by Alan Rosenfelder for the Dvorak Society Newsletter No. 147 (August 2024): 21.

Janackova filharmonie / Alena Hron - Vitezslava Kapralova: Kompletni orchestralni dilo. Dvojalbum, 9 skladeb, 103:17, 2024.
... stihla vytvorit neobycejne osobite dilo do svych petadvaceti, kdy zemrela ve francouzske emigraci behem druhe svetove valky. Dirigentka Hron s Janackovou filharmonii natocila Kapralovou nezne, dukladne a s obrovskym pochopenim.
From a review by Milan Bator for Magazin Patriot, 30. 7. 2024.

Kapralova: The Completed Orchestral Works. Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava / Alena Hron, CPO 555568-2.
In turns tempestuous and rhapsodic, eerie and excitable, the Piano Concerto is the most substantial piece here, though there is also a lot to enjoy in the likes of the boisterous Suita Rustica and charming Prélude de Noël.
From a review by Jeremy Pound for the BBC Music Magazine (August 2024): 86.

Ceske velikanky i opomijene rodacky zazni na Festivalu Krumlov
Mlada skladatelka je jedna z mala zen, jejiz tvorba se, stejne jako u skladatelskych velikanu, deli na obdobi ve kterych skladala, podle mista, kde zrovna zila. Z raneho brnenskeho obdobi si posluchaci poslechnou na koncertu prave Legendu a Burlesku op. 3, zatimco Elegie by patrily do jejiho druheho parizskeho obdobi, temer ke konci života. Tato nesmirne nadana mlada žena je stejne jako jeji tvorba obpletena mnohymi spekulacemi, nespocet autografu se posmrtne nenasel, prestoze o dilech informovala svoje blizke okoli a duvody jeji predcasne smrti jsou tez casto zpochybnovany. Jedine co zustava objektivne nemenne i vice než sto let po jejim narozeni je jeji brilantni tvorba a dirigentsky um.
From a preview for OperaPlus, July 2024.

KAPRALOVA: The Completed Orchestral Works (Hron)
Vitezslava Kapralova (1915–40) might have been a leading composer of the last century had she not died of typhoid fever at the age of 25. This collection of her completed orchestral works shows us a young composer whose musical personality is already discernible. Pianist Rudolf Firkusny described her temperament as ‘unpredictable’, and this is true of her music as well. Yet how deftly she moves from one idea to the next. Her music almost always flows in a way that sounds utterly natural and right.
At a quarter of an hour, her Military Sinfonietta (1937) covers an enormous emotional range but its many seams are sewn together with remarkable economy. There’s less of a distinct Czech accent here and elsewhere than one might expect – it’s strongest in the Suita rustica (1938), based on Czech folk songs and dances, with a middle movement that pays homage to Smetana – and it’s clear she also had a strong affinity for Debussy and Bartok.
Kapralova wrote her Piano Concerto (1935) while still a student in Brno, and it’s the kind of big, colourful, unabashedly romantic and hugely entertaining showpiece I’d be delighted to encounter in the concert hall. Tomas Vrana imbues the solo part with tremendous flair, and I prefer his interpretation to Amy I Lin Cheng’s more demure account on an all-Kapralova Naxos album recorded with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra. That said, Kenneth Kiesler’s interpretation of the Military Sinfonietta is more vividly characterised, but that Naxos disc excludes the Suita rustica as well as the superb Partita for piano and strings (1939) – a work that’s closely related to Martinu’s Double Concerto. I also prefer Veronika Rovna’s sensitive and pitch-perfect reading of the orchestral song Waving Farewell (1937) to Nicholas Phan’s.
The Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava play extremely well for [the conductor Hron] and, my niggling comments about the Military Sinfonietta aside, these interpretations do full justice to Kapralova’s art.
From a review by Andrew Farach-Colton for Gramophone, July 2024

Vitezslava Kapralova (1915-1940): The Completed Orchestral Works; cpo 555 568-2 [2 CDs: 103]
The subtitle of this twofer is The Completed Orchestral Works – ‘completed’ not complete, as it doesn’t include those works that Kapralova left unfinished. We don’t get, for instance, Sad Evening (Smutny vecer), which you can find on Naxos in its premiere recording, as the orchestration of the final bars was reconstructed by Timothy Cheek. The core of her achievement orchestrally lies in the Military Sinfonietta, the Partita for Strings and the Piano Concerto. ... Tomas Vrana is CPO’s pianist and plays with admirably fleet fingers, but the recording is not as detailed as Supraphon’s nor is the performance as romanticised. If you want to delve deeper with this youthful concerto, seek out Alice Rajnohova with Tomas Hanus and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic on Radioservis. Vrana also appears in the performance of the Partita for piano and strings of 1939. This three-movement work is one of her most impressive large-scale statements and certainly the most Martinu-like of her works. His neoclassical cadences haunt the opening Allegro energico and the pianist brings out these elements well. ... Waving Farewell (Sbohem a satecek) is a brief orchestral song with words by the poet Vitezslav Nezval (1900-1958) and it’s well sung by Veronika Rovná. ... The remainder of the programme gathers up those lighter pieces that remain from her sadly small catalogue of orchestral works. This includes the Suite en miniature, a delicious example of her richly expressive writing, burnished with impressionism, and a lightly spiced use of folkloric influence. The piece is actually rooted in her Suite for Piano, which is included in the second disc and with which it shares an opus number, Op 1. This is a useful collection of Kapralova’s orchestral music. Superior, alternative recordings may not be easy to come across, so the unproblematic recorded quality will act in its favour.
From a review by Jonathan Woolf for Web International, July 2024.

Vitezslava Kapralova: The Completed Orchestral Works. 2-CD 555 568-2 CPO (2024). Recorded May-June 2022 in Ostrava. TT 103:17. Tomas Vrana, Veronika Rovna, Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava, Alena Hron. CD1: Suite en miniature, Military Sinfonietta, Suita rustica, Waving Farewell, Prélude de Noël, Fanfare. CD2: Partita, Piano Concerto, Suita.
The double album of Kapralova’s orchestral works (plus a piano suite as a bonus track) maps a barely decade-long musical career that was tragically cut short at the dawn of WWII. The CPO editors made an executive decision to include only those orchestral compositions by Kapralova that were completed and orchestrated by the composer herself. [...] Performances by the Janacek Philharmonic under the baton of the up-and-coming conductor Alena Hron are consistently solid throughout this 103-minute orchestral program, even offering a few new insights into the presented works. The neobaroque Partita for strings and piano, the orchestral miniature Prélude de Noël, and the orchestral song Waving Farewell are the cases in point. The soloist in Kapralova’s outstanding art song has a pristine voice, clear articulation, and good diction. She and the orchestra in a supportive role succeed in building up the momentum that this quasi-operatic song requires, placing their rendition among the best to date. The double album also includes the composer’s two orchestral suites, Suite en miniature and Suita rustica; the latter pays tribute to Stravinsky’s early ballets and has become immensely popular with audiences in recent years. The best known composition by Kapralova, the lushly orchestrated Military Sinfonietta, also receives a good reading from the Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava, if not quite the energy of the University of Michigan Symphony conducted by Kenneth Kiesler whose recording was released by Naxos in 2021. The final classic presented on the album, Piano Concerto in D Minor, is a truly exciting work, somewhat evocative of Rachmaninov’s writing. [...] [T]here’s no doubt that the cpo double album is well positioned to take its place among the most important releases of Kaprálová’s music to date — certainly a desirable recording to have in one’s collection, and a must for lovers of the composer's music.
From a review by Karla Hartl for the Kapralova Society Journal 22, no. 2 (Summer 2024): 19.

Skvele promysleny i zivouci konec tricate sezony Prague Phiharmonia
Orchestr Prague Philharmonia v sobotu 15. cervna uzavrel svou jubilejní 30. sezonu koncertem v prazskem Rudolfinu. Poutavy program obsahoval dila Bohuslava Martinu, Franze Liszta, Vitezslavy Kapralove a Ludwiga van Beethovena. Sefdirigent Emmanuel Villaume a solista George Li svou vitalitou a snahou zprostredkovali svezi umelecky zazitek. . . . Suita rustica, op. 19 Vitezslavy Kapralove má pozoruhodnou strukturu – v jejim srdci se nachází nejprostejsi, lidove ladena veta s furiantem. Ta je sevrena podstatne komplexnejsi prvni a treti casti, které berou z vlivu Stravinskeho baletu, dojde i na ctyrhlasou fugu. O vysoke umelecke hodnote dila nemuze byt pochyb a osobne z ni mam i konzistentnejsi zazitek nez z takove Dvorakovy Ceské suity. Umí dojmout (smycce, fletna a triangl ve druhe vete), ale i roztancovat (treti veta by si mezi studenty snadno mohla vyslouzit nalepku „banger“). Tim se vracim k prvnímu odstavci o dobre zvolenem programu – objevny poslech, ale pritom zcela bezbolestny.
From a review by Zbynek Pilbauer for KlasikaPlus.cz, 17 June 2024.

Vitezslava Kapralova: The Completed Orchestral Works cpo 555 568-2, 2 CD • 1h 43min • 2022
Kapralova’s official Opus 1, the Suite en miniature from 1935, originates from a piano version that is four years older, which is included here as a bonus. … To directly compare the two versions, you will need to change CDs. Here, the Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava demonstrates that it captures the distinctively Czech idiom of Kapralova’s music better than, for example, the Naxos recording from Michigan. The young conductor Alena Hron dares to do something that practically all previous recordings lack — courageous emotional exaggeration. This seems appropriate, even necessary, in this case and is not merely an expression of youthful exuberance but a defining characteristic of Kapralova’s art …. There are now several good recordings of the Piano Concerto in D minor, Op. 7. In addition to the CD from Michigan featuring soloist Amy I-Lin Cheng, Supraphon recently released a new recording (Marek Kozak) that has been rightly praised. However, this recording is significantly outshined by the present one, due to the aforementioned enthusiasm of the orchestra and conductor — the first movement is, after all, marked Allegro entusiastico — and especially the immensely passionate and fiery performance of pianist Tomas Vrana. He not only masters the virtuosity that harks back to late Romantic traditions with aplomb but also shapes every detail with emotional coherence and exquisite sound, without going overboard. Just listen to the long solo — more than a simple cadenza — towards the end of the first movement, which nearly takes the listener’s breath away, or the jazz-inspired excitement in the finale. This piece alone justifies the acquisition of this production. The other major works are also performed with near-unmatched musical quality. In the aforementioned Military Sinfonietta, which the composer even conducted at the BBC in 1938, its nationalist tone is apparently deliberately understated here in favor of structural clarity. The famous Furiant from Smetana’s The Bartered Bride quoted in the Lento (!) of the Suite rustica is genuinely amusing. The Partita for Piano & Strings — heavily influenced by Martinu — is already moving towards Stravinsky. Special mention must be made of the orchestral song Sbohem a satecek, which can easily stand alongside the best contributions to the genre by Richard Strauss: Veronika Rovna sings it excellently, though somewhat too tamely. Technically, the recording is of a high standard, although the generous reverb in places may be a matter of taste, earning the double album a strong recommendation.
From a review for Klassik-heute.com by Martin Blaumeiser, 10 June 2024.

Vitezslava Kapralova - The Completed Orchestral Works; Suite en miniature + Military Sinfonietta + Suita rustica + Waving Farewell + Pre´lude de Noe¨l + Fanfare (1939) + Partita + Klavierkonzert in d-Moll + Suita; Veronika Rovna, Sopran, Tomas Vrana, Klavier, Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, Alena Hron; # cpo 555 568–2; Aufnahme 05 + 06.2022, Veröffentlichung 03.05.2024 (103'17)
Das Programm dieses Albums ist recht gemischt und zeigt in der Tat sowohl die slawische Leidenschaft als auch die von mährischer Volksmusik beeinflusste Melodik. Am nachhaltigsten werden dabei die Partita per pianoforte ed orchestra d’archi op. 20 und das Klavierkonzert op. 7, die von Tomas Vrana sehr gut gespielt werden. Er hat im Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava unter Alena Hron aufmerksam ihn begleitende Mitstreiter. Das Orchester zeigt auch in den übrigen Stücken ein solides Niveau und musiziert inspiriert unter der Leitung der tschechischen Dirigentin, die die Musik immer sehr stimmungsvoll und farbig werden lässt.
From a review by Remy Franck for Pizzicato, May 6, 2024.

Forgotten Czech Piano Concertos Kovarovic/Kapralova/Borkovec Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra Marek Kozak (piano), Robert Jindra (conductor) Supraphon SU 4337-2, released 8 March 2024.
Supraphon has released this excellent CD featuring three piano concertos by Czech composers that are rarely heard. They don’t often appear on the contemporary concert scene. In my opinion, this is a mystery since all three are of the highest quality and well worth listening to. [...] [Kapralova’s] piano concerto is remarkable to have been composed by a 20-year-old. It has a distinctive style and employs a large orchestra and there is a sense of a real mastery of the interplay between the piano soloist and the brass and woodwind sections. [...] I strongly recommend this CD as more than a curiosity but a very rewarding listening experience.
From a review by Alan Rosenfelder for the Dvorak Society Newsletter, No. 146 (May 2024): 13–14.

Forgotten Czech Piano Concertos Kovarovic/Kapralova/Borkovec Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra Marek Kozak (piano), Robert Jindra (conductor) Supraphon SU 4337-2 (2024).
The soloist, Marek Kozak, is a superb advocate for these widely differing works, providing thoughtful and persuasively idiomatic interpretations. Robert Jindra and the Prague Radio Symphony, somewhat more distantly recorded than the soloist, supply dependable if occasionally slightly untidy accompaniment.
BBC Music Magazine, May 2024.

Forgotten Czech Piano Concertos. Supraphon SU 4337-2 [75]
I’d say only two of the concertos in Supraphon’s disc are ‘forgotten’ so let’s start with the one that’s remembered, Vitezslava Kapralova’s Piano Concerto of 1935. The opening movement was performed at her graduation ceremony, played by Ludvik Kundera – Milan Kundera’s father – with Kapralova herself conducting. It must have made quite an appeal to the senses as it’s full of florid romanticism, dappled piano writing and laden with virtuoso runs. The central movement is exceptionally brief, limpid and polyphonic, and prefaces an attaca into the finale, which is much more percussive, free-flowing and encodes a jazzy ostinato figure. A reflective panel offers contrast before the extrovert final flourishes. The wind writing is vivid and the orchestration pert and even chic. The young pianist Marek Kozak is on a par with the soloist on Naxos’s all-Kapralova disc, Amy I-Lin Cheng, and their tempo decisions are similar, though Kozak has by far the better orchestral accompaniment. A trickier disc to find offers much stiffer opposition – Alice Rajnohova with Tomas Hanus and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic on Radioservis. They are swifter throughout and bring a greater sense of daredevilry than their rivals.
From a review by Jonathan Woolf for MusicWeb international, April 2024

Forgotten Czech Piano Concertos
Kovarovic’s work has a high Romantic sweep, foregrounding the soloist with passages of infectious brio. Kapralova’s written as her graduation piece, peers into the future with wonderfully reckless keyboard runs . . . Borkovec’s second piano concerto, full of colour and activity, bears traces of Bartok and Shostakovich. This beautifully played and recorded disc has an inescapable poignancy to it; a time capsule of periods in history where the sun shone before obscurity beckoned.
The Sunday Times, April 14, 2024.

20th century Czech treasures unearthed
Three superb virtuosic 20th-century concertos. The Kovarovic and the Kapralova are unashamedly post-romantic with sweeping melodies while combining great virtuosity. Kapralova died tragically young (aged only 25) and thus the music world was deprived of a hugely significant talent. Her works - about 50 in number - are all impressive, not least this concerto composed when she was just 20 years old. The Borkovec is more "modern" in its idiom with a percussive approach to the piano. Nonetheless, it is melodic, rhythmic and thoroughly enjoyable. The playing of the young Czech pianist is brilliant and thoroughly committed. The Supraphon recording is first class and the disc can be recommended without hesitation.
Reviewed on March 27, 2024, by "Jacobite" for amazon.com.

Review: “Forgotten Czech Piano Concertos” – Marek Kozak
This album, titled “Forgotten Czech Piano Concertos,” features works by Karel Kovarovic (1862-1920), Vitezslava Kapralova (1915-1940), and Pavel Borkovec (1894-1972). These pieces, brought to life by pianist Marek Kozak and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Robert Jindra, offer a glimpse into a world of musical brilliance that has remained largely unexplored. . . . Kapralova’s Piano Concerto in D Minor, Op. 7, is a forward-looking piece . . . [and] a brilliant showcase of Kapralova’s talent, with its vibrant instrumentation and captivating solo part. . . . The concerto’s modernity and freshness make it stand out in the album, offering a tantalizing taste of a composer whose potential was never fully realized.
From a review by Tal Agam on March 22, 2024, for the Classic Review.

Intensity, virtuosity and life-affirming energy from the Pavel Haas Quartet's all-Czech evening
Now in their 22nd year, the Pavel Haas Quartet continue to impress with their sheer dedication and virtuosic intensity, and tonight was no exception. Their all-Czech programme at the Wigmore offered three quartets spanning 50 plus years of Czech composition, with the lesser known Vitezslava Kapralova sitting alongside Martinu and Dvorak. Vitezslava Kapralova, born in Brno in 1915, was a highly talented composer and conductor. She met Martinu in Prague in 1937 and he was immediately impressed, encouraging her to more to Paris to continue her studies with him. After a brief return to Czechoslovakia, she went back to Paris just before the Nazis marched into Prague. Then, following the German invasion of France, and now seriously unwell, she left for Montpellier, where she sadly died, possibly of typhoid fever. Her many song, chamber and orchestral works included just the one string quartet. Heavily inspired by Moravian folk music, angular rhythmic energy combines with rich French harmonies, and there are beautifully lyrical moments too, especially for the first violin. Jaruskova gave these moments a delicate touch, whilst ensemble in the second movement particularly, with its frequent changes in tempo and rapid pizzicato passages, was effortlessly tight. And after a tender conclusion to the slow movement, the finale danced away, building to a joyful climax, the Haas players proving powerful advocates for this strikingly individual quartet.
From a review by Nick Boston for Bachtrack, 13 February 2024