Marek Stilec

Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice & Marek Štilec – Fučík: Dances & Marches (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:37 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Marco-Polo

Julius Fucik studied composition under Dvorak at the Prague Conservatory but was soon to emerge as one of the great ‘march kings’ of his time. He gained worldwide fame for his immortal Entry of the Gladiators, but after the composer’s death in 1916 his music collection was acrimoniously broken up by his family, with many scores subsequently lost. Half the contents of this album come from handwritten manuscripts preserved in Prague that have no known printed parts. Painstaking editorial work has been carried out allowing us to hear the full range of Fucik’s works in these premiere recordings.

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Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice & Marek Štilec – Wranitzky: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:46 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos

Paul Wranitzky moved to Vienna from his native Moravia at the age of 20, mixing with the likes of Haydn and Mozart. As the most important symphonist in Vienna in the late 1790s, his style influenced the early symphonies of Beethoven. The Symphony in D major “La Chasse” reflects the popularity of hunting music, and is heard here for the first time in its expanded version. The overtures to Mitgef”uhl and Die gute Mutter represent Wranitzky’s skill as a composer for the theatre, as does the masterfully scored Symphony in C major in which the composer repurposes some incidental and ballet music.

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Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, Marek Stilec – Wranitzky: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:50 minutes | 1,26 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos

Czech by birth, Paul Wranitzky settled in Vienna where he became highly respected as an orchestra leader and composer. Today overshadowed by his friends Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, Wranitzky was the most important symphonist in Vienna in the late 1790s. The colourful overture to Der Schreiner (“The Carpenter”) is followed by three contrasting symphonies. The dramatic La Tempesta contains elaborate storm effects, which predate Beethoven’s “Pastoral” by over a decade. The compact Symphony in A major represents Wranitzky’s early symphonic period of the mid-1780s while the Symphony in F major is notable for its catchy themes and masterful scoring.

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Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice & Marek Štilec – Wranitzky: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:47 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos

Czech-born Paul Wranitzky, a contemporary of Mozart, was the most important symphonist in Vienna at the turn of the 18th century. To mark the ascension to the throne of Franz II in 1792, Wranitzky wrote the grand Symphony in C major, a work of regal quality and festive exuberance. Wranitzky’s mature symphonic style is on display in the Symphony in B-flat major, with its expanded orchestral forces, contrasting textures and broad musical invention. Overtures from two operas offer a sampling of Wranitzky’s dramatic writing for the stage.

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Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, Marek Stilec – Wranitzky: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:00 minutes | 1,26 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Naxos

In the last decade of the 18th century, the Moravian composer Paul Wranitzky was Vienna’s leading symphonist. As orchestral director of the court theatre he also composed many works for the stage. The ballet-pantomime Das Waldmädchen (‘The Forest Maiden’) proved one of his greatest successes, enchanting the Viennese public with its tuneful score and the charming story of a feral girl found in the forest by a Polish prince out hunting. Its enduring popularity sparked numerous productions across Europe and inspired works by Beethoven and Weber. The delightfully rustic Pastorale and Allemande was written for Empress Marie Therese, an important musical patron who favoured Wranitzky as composer and concertmaster.
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