Filling a gap in the nineteenth century piano repertoire that many listeners would not have suspected was there, this excellent 2006 disc by English pianist
Kathryn Stott of piano music by Bohemian composer Bedrich Smetana admirably serves its purpose. Opening with the half-hour-long, six-movement cycle Dreams and closing with several piquant Czech Dances, the program shows Smetana to have been a composer not only of ethnic creations but of virtuoso piano music in the Liszt mold as well. While there have been other excellent recordings of these works before, they have always been by Czech pianists who seemed to have instinctively grasped the specific rhythmic accent of Smetana's music, and this recording proves that you don't have to be Czech to play Smetana.
Stott clearly has the big technique to tackle the extreme difficulties of the Concert Étude in C major and the more extravagantly virtuosic movements of Dreams, but she also has the sensitivity to handle the sweetness of "On the Sea Shore -- a memory" and "Faded Happiness" (from Dreams) and the rhythmic verve to dance through the Fantasia on Czech Folksongs and the Czech Dances. Produced and edited by
Rachel Smith and engineered by
Jonathan Cooper and Paul Quilter, the sound of this Chandos disc is big, full, and deep. While there are good reasons for trying Czech pianists' recordings of these works, anyone hearing
Stott's recording will be well served.