The Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, recorded at the Rudolfinum hall in Prague Leoš Janáček’s opera Katya Kabanova, starring the world-renowned soprano Gabriela Beňačková in the title role. Released on two CDs in the autumn of 1997, it subsequently won a number of prestigious prizes, including the Cannes Classical Award and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. It also received a nomination for the Grammy Awards.

Zelenka was the most important Bohemian composer before Gluck. He wrote no operas and few instrumental works, but a great body of sacred music for the Catholic court at Dresden plus a few choice secular works. His music is characterized by passus duriusculus – chromatic descent. Another distinguishing characteristic is slow triplets – not infrequently used by Zelenka, though rarely heard in the works of better known late baroque composers.

Some of Janacek's most characteristic invention is to be found in the many choruses he wrote for local choirs who were moved by both a love of singing together and a demonstration of their national identity. There is a good selection here. Even the earliest, a touching little lament for a duck, has a quirkiness which saves it from sentimentality; the latest, the Nursery Rhymes, are marvellous little inventions from the dazzling evening of Janacek's life. One must resist any temptation to say that they take Stravinsky on at his own game: Janacek is his own man. In between comes a varied diet here. Schoolmaster Halfar (or Cantor Halfar) is set with a dazzling range of little musical ironies as the story unfolds of the teacher who ruined his life by insisting on speaking Czech. The Elegy on the death of his daughter Olga goes some way toward dignifying a conventional text with some heartfelt music, but the pressure of grief has not drawn the greatest of his music from him: perhaps more time was needed, and indeed the piano pieces he entitled Along an Overgrown Path re-enter ancient griefs more expressively.

Framus Five (also known as Framus 5; Michal Prokop & Framus Five) were formed in the early sixties; Michal Prokop (vocals, guitar) was one of co-founders and later the spiritus movens of the band. Up to this day the band had constant shifting in the line-up, and more than thirty musicians went through it, but the most significant ones are Lubos Andrst, a renowned Czech blues guitarist, and Jan Hrubý on violin. Their first album, 'Blues In Soul' (1968) is exactly what its name suggests. However, a 1971 'Mesto Er', probably the most interesting point of their career for a prog enthusiast, with a prog rock that combined many elements, including blues, jazz big band, and poetry.

It is a measure of the respect in which Sir Charles Mackerras is held in Czechoslovakia that this recording should have been possible. The compliment is no less than his due, for no man has done more to win acceptance in this country for Janacek as one of the great composers of the twentieth century. With Simon Rattle now taking his place as the leader of the 'second generation' of Janacek conductors in this country, we are fortunate indeed.

Blue Effect was a Czech rock band, also operating under the names M. Efekt, Modrý efekt, or The Special Blue Effect, since their formation in 1968. The band's main and only permanent member from its founding until his death in 2016 was guitarist Radim Hladík, formerly of The Matadors. Blue Effect changed their musical style several times, ranging from rhythm and blues, jazz fusion, to art rock.