VÍTĚZSLAV NOVÁK (1870-1949): Piano Concerto in E Minor (World Premiere Recording), Toman and the Wood Nymph, Op. 40, At Dusk for Solo Piano, Op. 13.

Description: The first studio recording of the 1895 concerto, a remarkable early work in a Romantic virtuoso manner. Due to its intimate nature, At Dusk, a four-piece suite from the following year, inspired by J. S. Machar’s poetry, stands in contrast to the concerto’s virtuosic stylization. The tone poem Toman and the Wood Nymph of 1906-07 is almost unrecorded but may be deemed the most ambitious of Novák’s symphonic works. As the composer himself put it, he strove to express an “uncontrollable torrent of wild passion”, referring to the piece as an “orgy of sound” and the ballad as a “depiction of woman’s demonic power over man”: a much more striking and personal work. Jan Bartoš (piano), Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra; Jakub Hrůša.