To mark Libor Peeks eightieth birthday, Supraphon presents a representative selection of large orchestral recordings he made from 1981 to 1989. Compositions by Josef Suk, who has occupied a privileged position in Peeks career, are featured alongside paramount Impressionist pieces Debussys La mer and Ravels Suites from the ballet Daphnis et Chloé. Peeks recording of Bruckners Symphony No. 7 and Suks lesser-known suite Under the Apple Tree are being released on CD for the very first time. The album also includes recordings of two concertos Elgars Cello Concerto, with Michaela Fukaová, and Scriabins Piano Concerto, with Garrick Ohlsson. Within the illustrious career of Libor Peek, a great and groundbreaking figure among Czech conductors, the period documented on this CD represents one of his peaks, the time of his most intensive collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, preceding his assuming the post of music director of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. These digitally remastered recordings bear witness to Peeks remarkably nuanced work with the orchestral sound and sense for the great lines of Romantic orchestral scores. A living portrait of a major Czech conductor.
Works:
• Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E Major
• Debussy: La Mer
• Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
• Ravel: Boléro
• Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 1
• Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2
• Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op. 20
• Suk: A Fairy Tale, Op. 16
• Suk: A Summer's Tale, Op. 29
• Suk: Serenade for String Orchestra in E flat, Op. 6
• Suk: Under the Apple Tree - Suite from the Music to Julius Zeyer's Dramatic Legend, Op. 20