Hommage a Zuzana Růžičková
Works
CD 1
Johann Sebastian Bach: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903
French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816
Concerto for Harpsichord No. 9 in G major, BWV 980
Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in F minor, L. 475, K.519
Sonata in F minor, L. 383, K.19
Sonata in D major, L.Suppl. 15, K.278
Sonata in G major, L. 389, K.375
Sonata in G minor, L. 488, K.8
Sonata in B flat major, L. 50, K.70
Sonata in D minor, L. 366, K.1
Sonata in G major “Capriccio”, L. 84, K.63
Sonata in C major, L. 5, K.406
Sonata in C minor, L. 352, K.11
CD 2
Manuel de Falla: Concerto for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Violin and Cello
Viktor Kalabis: Six Two-Voice Canonic Inventions for Harpsichord, op. 20
Francis Poulenc: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra (Concert champetre)
Jan Rychlík: Hommaggi gravicembalistici for Harpsichord
Bohuslav Martinů: Concerto for Harpsichord and Small Orchestra, H 246
Zuzana Růžičková (harpsichord)
Zuzana Růžičková, an exceptional personality upon whom the critics conferred the title “First Lady of the Harpsichord”, continued the pioneering efforts Wanda Landowska had made to get the harpsichord recognised as an independent concert instrument. The path she took was co-determined by her lifelong relationship to Bach, whose complete works for harpsichord she has recorded, and along it she was also accompanied by a number of friends she regularly met: Karel Ančerl, Gideon Klein, Sviatoslav Richter, Josef Suk. She hasn’t, however, remained merely a Bach specialist: in addition to early music, she has recorded all the classic modern harpsichord works, including Poulenc’s Concert champ?tre and her beloved Bohuslav Martinů’s Concerto for Harpsichord, awareness of which she helped to raise all over the world. A number of pieces have been written directly for Zuzana Růžičková, among them compositions by Jan Rychlík and the remarkable Sei invenzioni canonici per cembalo by Viktor Kalabis, whom the harpsichordist was married to for over half a century. This representative selection from Zuzana Růžičková’s highly acclaimed discography is Supraphon’s way of marking her 80th birthday. The overwhelming majority of these recordings are appearing on CD for the very first time.
(Text: Supraphon)