The album containing piano concertos by Antonín Dvořák and Bohuslav Martinů, recorded by pianist Ivo Kahánek and the Bamberger Symphoniker, led by Jakub Hrůša, has been nominated for the best record of the year by BBC Music Magazine.
The recording of Antonín Dvořák’s and Bohuslav Martinů’s piano concertos performed by pianist Ivo Kahánek and the Bamberger Symphoniker with their Chief Conductor, Jakub Hrůša, was not only selected as the Recording of the Month by BBC Music Magazine; it has now been shortlisted for the magazine’s annual awards. Readers from all around the world can influence the outcome of the poll by voting at the magazine’s website from 16 January to 19 February 2020.
The poll can be found at this site:
https://musicmagawards.awardsplatform.com/entry/vote/pDzERgvL
“I was pleased to find that Ivo Kahánek and Jakub Hrůša, who both collaborate with the Czech Philharmonic regularly, have been nominated,” the General Director of the Czech Philharmonic, David Mareček, points out. “The situation is not too different from that of a Czech athlete qualifying for the World Cup final. The advantage is that you can ‘cheer’ at your computer without having to go to London.”
“We strived for the best possible performance of the works of our two giants, Antonín Dvořák and Bohuslav Martinů. I am pleased that in addition to the many awards this record has received our efforts resulted in the fact that Czech music is not only seen as something exotic in the world to diversify traditional programmes, but is becoming a respected and sought-after part of the world repertoire,” Ivo Kahánek states. “If Czech listeners take a moment to give the record their vote in the poll, I will, of course, be very happy. I take all positive feedback as a tribute to Czech culture, which I have the honour to be a representative of.”
BBC Music Magazine is one of the world’s best-selling and most respected classical music magazines. Published in the UK, each issue contains the latest news from around the world, interviews with artists respected all across the globe. BBC Music Magazine reviews always cover more than 100 new classical recordings, DVDs and books on classical music, all written by hand-picked experts. Every month fans of classical music eagerly await the decision of the BBC Music Magazine reviewers on which of the records out of the vast global production will be selected as their “Choice” in each category (orchestra, chamber music, etc.) and which receive the highest recommendations and are awarded the title of the Recording of the Month. The ones that gain the most interest are then nominated for the annual BBC Music Magazine Awards.
Ivo Kahánek is often referred to as the ‘Czech Chopin’ thanks to his sensitive, elegant and singing expression, and many see him as the best Czech pianist of today. He is a laureate of the Prague Spring 2004 competition and has had many successful performances: with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms, at London’s Wigmore Hall with the Pavel Haas Quartet or with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle. In September 2015 he was the main protagonist and curator of the Dvořák Prague Chamber Music Series. In 2019 he took part in concert tours to Germany, Portugal, Mexico, Switzerland, Poland and other countries. He regularly performs in the Czech Republic at international festivals such as the Prague Spring, Smetanova Litomyšl, Dvořák’s Prague and others. In 2019 he appeared in several concerts with the Czech Philharmonic under the baton of its new Chief Conductor, Semyon Bychkov.
The Christmas issue of the BBC Music Magazine 2019, the world’s best-selling classical music magazine, already contained praise of the recording of piano concertos by Antonín Dvořák and Bohuslav Martinů performed by Ivo Kahánek and the Bamberger Symphoniker with their Chief Conductor Jakub Hrůša and declared it to be the “Recording of the Month”.
The record: https://lnk.to/IvoKahanekABambergerSymphonikerDvorakMartinuPR
TEASER: https://youtu.be/RASQYkjKjLA
