Smetana: Má Vlast

Jiří Bělohlávek, who died in 2017, was a master of the music of his native Czech Republic. He recorded many of that musical nation’s classics, such as the symphonies of Dvořák, and, on this posthumous release, he conducts Czech musical icon Smetana’s set of six tone poems *Má Vlast* (My Country). This music is in the very bones of the Czech Philharmonic and they play it with an utterly idiomatic style, but also with a palpable love and pride. From the ever-popular “Vltava” to the bloodstained “Sarka,” this is music that tells stories—and Bělohlávek is a magnificent guide.