Regular radio broadcasts were launched…

The broadcast ran for an hour on long wave and included a short introduction and a concert. Czechoslovakia therefore became the second European country after Great Britain with regular radio broadcasts.” Naturally, the 90th birthday of Czechoslovak, and later Czech, Radio is not just an occasion for leafing through chronicles and searching for hitherto overlooked gems in the sound archives; it is also a stimulus for contemporary artists, meaning you can look forward to absorbing programmes and interesting projects. In an interview with the head of the Classical Music Department at Czech Radio 3 – Vltava, Petr Veber, we present a number of treats for music lovers:

Let’s begin with explorations of the past. Which chapters in the history of music at the radio will Vltava introduce us to in connection with this important anniversary?

Since 1926, its symphonic orchestra has been an indispensible part of our radio station, and the programme Depozitář Hudební galerie (Depositary Musical Gallery) on Monday evenings will look back to sound history. Former Czech Radio dramaturge and editor Bohuslav Vítek will look at individual stages in the recording of music at the station through rare recordings that aren’t bad at all! I would point out that originally there was the Radiojournal Orchestra, while later there were even two ensembles for a long period…All of that history will also be recalled on Vltava in a multi-part series of programmes that the journalist Petar Zapletal is planning for the Saturday afternoon series Euphonia. But we won’t stick with history alone. There are also brand new recordings and alongside them this season, again after several years, not just recordings but regular live broadcasts of season-ticket holders’ concerts.

When you are looking to the past, which era in the life of Czechoslovak, respectively Czech, Radio do you regard as being extraordinarily valuable for music?

Only six musicians were employed for the purposes of broadcasting in the early years. The founding figure who headed a genuine orchestra was Otakar Jeremiáš. Alongside him, Karel Boleslav Jirák took on the role of director of the music department in 1930; Vltava has already profiled him in the Euphonia series. At that time, names such as Miloslav Kabeláč, Iša Krejčí, Klement Slavický, Václav Trojan, Václav Smetáček and Karel Ančerl became associated with the station as musical directors and conductors. The orchestra’s professionalism increased and live broadcasts led to the orchestra becoming a respected ensemble in the context of the world community of radio stations. The peak of this stage was a concert featuring Suk’s Fantasy in G minor and Janáček’s Sinfonietta that over 100 world radio stations relayed from Prague on 5 March 1935 to tens of millions of listeners. After the war, the list of important figures linked to the radio grew gradually to include the conductors Jaroslav Krombholc, Břetislav Bakala, Alois Klíma, Václav Jiráček, Josef Hrnčíř, Jiří Stárek, František Vajnar and in the end, alongside the younger colleagues he worked with, chief conductor Vladimír Válek. By the way, many important composers continue to alternate in the roles of director and dramaturge. These are the decades in which the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (PRSO) players – alongside their studio work – definitively built up a place of honour on the Prague, but also national and international, concerts scene.

But let’s not stay exclusively in the past. I expect that Vltava staff will not be missing on the day of the anniversary, May 18, at the Rudolfinum…

Our radio station has been linked from the first year, that is from 1946, with the Prague Spring International Music Festival – it is not just its “oldest media partner”, and that without interruption, but also its “cofounder”. It is clear, therefore, that a number of live broadcasts and concert recordings will take place and that a broadcast will also take place on the aforementioned anniversary, when the Rudolfinum will belong to the PRSO. At the same time, we will remember the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Umělecká beseda (Cultural Discussion). A concert led by chief conductor Ondrej Lenárd will highlight the fact that the association’s members include Bedřich Smetana and Jan Klusák. The music of Jaroslav Ježek and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique will be performed. What’s more, Czech Radio 3 – Vltava is also planning on that day to bring to life the memory of the real very beginnings of broadcasting. Even thought it probably won’t be a live broadcast from a tent.

How should listeners imagine the cooperation between Czech Radio 3 – Vltava and the PRSO?

Vltava’s Music Department is located in the building on Vinohradská St. on the same corridor as the orchestra management, so a lot of things couldn’t be easier. The dramaturgy of recording frequency has always been based on the ideas and needs of domestic broadcasting and on what is attractive to partner stations in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It also couldn’t be easier to discuss ideas on how to present the orchestra in broadcasts, or what to broadcast during intervals in live concert broadcasts. However, in recent years the main thing both sides have missed has been the recording studio, which is currently being renovated. When the orchestra returns to daily work there from rehearsal spaces and studios in Hostivař and Karlín we will see the musicians more often and will also cooperate even more closely than in the past. The number of ideas will also grow.

Which joint plans can you talk about today – and in so doing entice listeners to spend more interesting years with Czech Radio?

The nearest is Easter Day of Euroradio, which is on Palm Sunday on 24 March. A chamber line-up of the PRSO will take part in a joint performance of Vaňhal’s Stabat mater. The Prague concert will be our contribution to the international sharing of programmes by EBU member radio stations. Another significant date is a concert on 17 April at which the holders of laureates awarded by EU youth music competitions will perform with the PRSO. Among them will be the violinist Julie Svěcená. The programme will appear on the Euroradio Youth Concert international network on 21 April and on Vltava on 30 April. As for news, a compact disc of Janáček’s music that the PRSO recorded with conductor Tomáš Netopil has been sent for production. They will start recording their second Janáček CD in September and will hopefully complete it in March next year. And when we’re talking about the future, within the framework of the Euroradio Concert Season, in the series Radio Orchestras Making History, a concert is planned for 28 April 2014 that should feature a freshly commissioned concert piece by Aleš Pavlorek, as well as music by Viktor Kalabis and Bohuslav Martinů’s chamber opera Comedy on the Bridge in concert form. Naturally, the programme will be broadcast on Vltava.