Extra Tracks

Below are tracks from our library that never made it onto one of our compact discs. They can be downloaded here as high quality 320kbs AAC encoded (MP3) files.

Purchasers of tracks have unlimted personal use but must not pass or sell on to third parties nor broadcast without prior permission from PPL

Beno Blachut (1913 -1985)

An icon in his own nation, the tenor Beno Blachut drew international acclaim through his many commercial recordings of Czech music. He was an instrumental part of the post-World War II school of Czech opera singers that were responsible for popularizing Czech opera internationally.

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"The oratorio, indeed, overflows with melody (with the words sometimes not well adapted to it and with a disregard for correct accentuation of the Latin) and it is superbly vocal. In the bass solo with chorus, Fac ardeat car meum (No. 4) in which the conductor has used children's voices to respond to the solo voice with touching effect, Dvorak, after a declamatory passage for the soloist, writes a melody that could have come from one of the slow Slavonic Dances, this being one of several pieces of eflective national colouring in the work. Two of the best movements are Eia, mater, for chorus (a funeral march of great pathos) and the contralto solo, Inflammatus et accensus (No. q) which is also in march tempo, but quicker and more urgent. The final chorus is a brightly coloured vision of Paradise (the flowing melody of the opening chorus is recapitulated in it) which is saved from triviality by a magnificently dramatic stroke after what appears to be the final Amen, The chorus, unaccompanied, again sing the last words of the Stabat Mater in massive harmony rising to a great climax (in which the orchestra joins) on Paradisi gloria, this being followed by a gradual decrease in volume over the orchestra and the solo soprano, with chorus, singing quiet repetitions of Amen. The music dies away on high woodwind chords. This is obviously a good performance, with excellent soloists and chorus, and the work is sung with a glow and fervour that is in welcome contrast to the paler style of our national tradition." Gramophone October 1953

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1. Quartetto, Coro. Andante con moto (Stabat Mater dolorosa)

2. Quartetto. Andante sostenuto (Quis est homo, qui non fleret)

3. Coro. Andante con moto (Eja, Mater, fons amoris)

4. Basso solo, Coro. Largo (Fac, ut ardeat cor meum)

5. Coro. Andante con moto, quasi allegretto (Tui nati vulnerati)

6. Tenore solo, Coro. Andante con moto (Fac me vere tecum flere)

7. Coro. Largo (Virgo virginum praeclara)

8. Duo. Larghetto (Fac, ut portem Christi mortem)

9. Alto solo. Andante maestoso (Inflammatus et accensus)

10.Quartetto, Coro. Andante con moto (Quando corpus morietur)

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