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Vaclav Neumann Conducts Dvorak & Smetana on CD

Three live recordings from Lucerne, released for the first time, commemorate Vaclav Neumann, one of the most distinguished podium stars of the so-called Eastern Bloc. As chief conductor of the legendary Czech Philharmonic Orchestra for many years, Neumann was regarded as an accomplished advocate of the music of his homeland in particular, which he shaped without sentimentality, but rather with a sense of form, a love of detail and a singing espressivo. "I am a Czech through and through," Vaclav Neumann once confessed - thus subliminally hinting that even in the politically turbulent times of the Cold War, he could not imagine any other homeland than Prague. Czech identity was also his artistic trademark, especially during his years at the helm of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, which he conducted from 1968 to 1990 and established as a cultural ambassador for his country on countless tours. The impetus for his international career, however, came from the GDR, where Neumann worked at Walter Felsenstein's Komische Oper in Berlin and later as Gewandhaus and opera conductor in Leipzig - a position steeped in tradition, which he resigned in 1968 in protest against the events of the "Prague Spring". In the summer of 1969, the Czech Philharmonic was the first orchestra from beyond the "Iron Curtain" to perform at the Lucerne Festival - under Neumann's baton, of course. Four further guest appearances followed between 1984 and 1990, including thrilling interpretations of Dvorak's Eighth Symphony, his late tone poem The Wood Dove and the prelude to Smetana's opera Libuse. Neumann never lapses into national emphasis, instead seeking a balance between richly nuanced lines - the trained violinist and violist spoke of the "singing orchestra" -, strict form and precise realisation of the musical text. All three live recordings are first releases. The 32-page, trilingual booklet contains a portrait of the conductor by Michael Struck-Schloen and shows previously unpublished photos from the festival archive. In cooperation with audite, Lucerne Festival presents outstanding concert recordings of formative festival artists in the "Historic Performances" series. The aim of the edition is to unearth hitherto largely unpublished treasures from the first six decades of the Festival, which was born in 1938 with a "Concert de Gala" conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The audio documents come from the archives of SRF Swiss Radio and Television, which has regularly broadcast the Lucerne concerts since the beginning. They have been carefully restored and supplemented with material and photos from the Lucerne Festival archive: a festival history in sound.