"These people always clear out when they hear of trouble," remarks Sherlock Holmes, "because they do not wish to be pestered by the police." The Gypsies or Romany people loomed large in the imagination of the newly urbanized middle class of the late nineteenth century, and the musical response was especially strong. Gypsy-inspired music has been a staple of concert programs for well over a century now, but focused explorations of the idea, such as that offered on Supraphon's Gypsy Melodies disc, have been rarer. It is no ...
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"These people always clear out when they hear of trouble," remarks Sherlock Holmes, "because they do not wish to be pestered by the police." The Gypsies or Romany people loomed large in the imagination of the newly urbanized middle class of the late nineteenth century, and the musical response was especially strong. Gypsy-inspired music has been a staple of concert programs for well over a century now, but focused explorations of the idea, such as that offered on Supraphon's Gypsy Melodies disc, have been rarer. It is no surprise that a Czech label has taken on this task and done it well; the Czech Republic has made consistent if not always successful strides toward the integration of its Romany minority. Gypsy Melodies presents songs for baritone and piano by three Czech composers, plus the Gypsy Songs, Op. 103, of Brahms. The Brahms songs, whose inspiration came via Hungary, are tangential to the main thrust of the album, for the works by Karel Bendl, Vitezslav Novák, and Antonín Dvorák all set texts...
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