Jan Novák: Orchestral Music, Volume One

The music of the Moravian composer Jan Novák (1921–84) – a natural successor to Bohuslav Martinů, with whom he briefly studied – is nothing less than life-enhancing: it has Martinů’s rhythmic charge and his unflagging energy. And although Novák had such difficulties with the authorities in Communist Czechoslovakia that he chose to emigrate, there is an infectious optimism, a joie de vivre, in these three works that is instantly communicative.

Alice Rajnohová, piano (Tracks 1–3)
Vilém Veverka, oboe (Tracks 4–6)
Lucie Schinzelová, piano duet – primo (Tracks 7–9)
Kristýna Znamenáčková, piano duet – secondo (Tracks 7-9)
Ensemble Opera Diversa
Gabriela Tardonová, conductor