Anyone who visited a Prague concert hall during the Communist era can attest to the feeling of refuge a besieged populace found there, and to the high level of music-making often to be found therein. This recording, which surfaced in the vaults of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, offers a similar and perhaps more intense experience. On the two CDs in the set is a pair of live concerts from June 1939, broadcast by several radio stations including the Norwegians, who recorded it. The radio announcer's introduction and ...
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Anyone who visited a Prague concert hall during the Communist era can attest to the feeling of refuge a besieged populace found there, and to the high level of music-making often to be found therein. This recording, which surfaced in the vaults of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, offers a similar and perhaps more intense experience. On the two CDs in the set is a pair of live concerts from June 1939, broadcast by several radio stations including the Norwegians, who recorded it. The radio announcer's introduction and sign-off are included. The Norwegians did not use tape, which did not yet exist; they did not use acetate discs, which was a manifestly inadequate technology for live recording. The medium, instead, was film. This is not quite like any other recording you may have heard of Smetana's Má Vlast and Dvorák's Slavonic Dances. The conductor, Václav Talich, went to school as Dvorák walked the halls of the Prague Conservatory as director; he lived into the stereo recording era. The Smetana...
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