Zdeněk Fibich
1850-1900
Czech composer Fibich goes into the files among composers with easy-to-remember birth & death dates. Move over Aaron Copland!
Fibich has a fair amount of music to his name, yet among Czech composers, he ranks behind such luminaries as Dvorak, Smetana, Janacek, Martinů, and Suk, maybe even Novák and Fučík as well.
Either way, there is a lot of strong music from Fibich. He is obviously indebted to the Teutonic school of composition in the Romantic Era, yet there is a more than a hint of Nationalism in his musical voice.
He wrote across many genres, both the dramatic stage and concert stage, small-scale and large-scale, voice and instrumental.
If you enjoy sweeping Romanticism mixed with bombast, Fibich should easily entertain many. He certainly does me!
Recordings and reviews currently on hand (Click below to visit):
1998: Symphonies
2001: String Quartets
2004: Piano Quartet & Quintet
2014: Overtures
2014: Symphonic Poems