Belfiato Quintet, Matouš Zukal, Prague Philharmonia - Karel Husa (2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Following the Prague Symphony Orchestra (CD Music for Prague, 2021) and the clarinettist Anna Paulová (2023), the Belfiato Quintet has also headed down the path of discovering the remarkable works of Karel Husa, a Pulitzer Prize and Grawemeyer Award winner, and one of the most prominent figures of Czech 20th-century music.

Husa went to Paris to study under Nadia Boulanger and Arthur Honegger. After the communist putsch of February 1948, he decided to remain abroad, working at Cornell University in the USA most of his life. He never forgot his homeland, however. This can be heard, for example, in his colourfulSerenade for Wind Quintet, Strings, Xylophone and Harp, which draws upon material from his earlier Evocations de Slovaquie. In these works, the composer relived his difficult decision not to return to his homeland. About Recollections for wind quintet and piano, the composer said: “Recollections are vivid, but not exactly precise. The way we remember things is a mix of accuracy and fancy… To accomplish all this, I wanted the composition to develop from simple tones and to return to them, all the while researching new combinations and sonorities in the quintet.” Husa put his love of birds into his Five Poems for wind quintet, “for these wonderful creatures, who embellish our lives so magically”; he employs a wide range of musical resources including microtones and aleatory. In the Serenade, the superb BelfiatoQuintet is joined by the Prague Philharmonia led by Emmanuel Villaume, and inRecollections by Matouš Zukal, a major talent among today’s young pianists.

Tracklist:
01. Five Poems for Wind Quintet: I. Walking Birds. Moderato marciale
02. Five Poems for Wind Quintet: II. Happy Birds. Quasi recitativo
03. Five Poems for Wind Quintet: III. Interlude. Lamenting Bird. Adagio
04. Five Poems for Wind Quintet: IV. With a Dead Bird. Poco più vivo
05. Five Poems for Wind Quintet: V. Fighting Birds. Vivace
06. Five Poems for Wind Quintet: VI. VI. Bird Flying High Above. Maestoso
07. Recollections for Wind Quintet and Piano: I. Largo
08. Recollections for Wind Quintet and Piano: II. Andante
09. Recollections for Wind Quintet and Piano: III. Adagio
10. Recollections for Wind Quintet and Piano: IV. Moderato
11. Recollections for Wind Quintet and Piano: V. Vivace
12. Recollections for Wind Quintet and Piano: VI. Moderato molto
13. Serenade for Wind Quintet, Strings, Xylophone and Harp: I. La Montagne
14. Serenade for Wind Quintet, Strings, Xylophone and Harp: II. La Nuit


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