“J.B. Foerster was born in this house on 30 December 1859 in order, through his music, to raise us to the heights of beauty.”
Although little known today in the wider musical world and even in his own country, Czech composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster was highly revered among his contemporaries. Foerster was active during the Czech National Revival, when the Czech art and culture was undergoing a true renaissance.
This collection comprises the composer’s complete solo piano music, which is characterised by fluid, lyrical melodic lines and unusual harmony. Each of these pieces was written as a dedication, gift or personal commission, showing the importance with which Foerester treated his family and friends. Many of the works contain a certain imagery or derive from a particular back story; one of these is the 1908 work Music for my young son – containing references to the infant Albert’s favourite folk tune – which almost seems to foretell the young boy’s tragic death, aged 16, in 1921. Among the other works in the collection is Dreaming; perhaps the composer’s most popular piano work.
The pieces are performed by renowned American pianist Patricia Goodson. Having lived in Prague since 1991, Goodson regularly wins praise all over the world for her interpretation of the Czech piano repertoire.
Other information:
- Recorded in Prague in 2013.
-This 4-CD set contains the complete solo piano music of Josef Bohuslav Foerster, an important but unjustly neglected Czech composer.
- Foerster’s romantic idiom is drenched in Bohemian folklore, the world of fairytales and woodland landscapes, picturesque, charming and witty. Though purely romantic, Foerster’s harmonics are often personal and quite daring, foreboding his successor Martinu.
- Splendid and idiomatic performances by American pianist Patricia Goodson who did extensive research into this fascinating figure in Czech music history.
- Contains liner notes on the composer and work.
