Czech composer Antonín Tucapský was born the year Leos Janácek died, studied at the Academy in Brno that bears Janácek's name, and studied under professors who were former Janácek students. He established himself in Czechoslovakia as a choral conductor and composer of renown, though that stage of his career drew swiftly to a close in the mid-'70s when he married English soprano Beryl Musgrave. His choice of bride soured the communist officials in regard to his musical abilities, and in 1975 Tucapský immigrated to London ...
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Czech composer Antonín Tucapský was born the year Leos Janácek died, studied at the Academy in Brno that bears Janácek's name, and studied under professors who were former Janácek students. He established himself in Czechoslovakia as a choral conductor and composer of renown, though that stage of his career drew swiftly to a close in the mid-'70s when he married English soprano Beryl Musgrave. His choice of bride soured the communist officials in regard to his musical abilities, and in 1975 Tucapský immigrated to London where he spent the remainder of his career. The Stabat Mater dates from 1989, the year Tucapský retired from his post at the Trinity College for Music, and is heard here in a performance by a group from his native land, the Prague Mixed Choir under Miroslav Kosler, supported by Vladimír Válek and the Czech Radio Symphony.Tucapský is certainly honored -- and to some sense vindicated -- by having this music recorded in his native land after the collapse of the regime that called for his...
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