BBC Music Magazine announced its annual awards at a gala evening on Wednesday, with the winners chosen by public vote. The Czech Philharmonic took home the Orchestral Award for its recording of Má vlast (My Country) by Bedřich Smetana, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
The recording of Má vlast was released last March to mark the 200th anniversary of Bedřich Smetana’s birth and the Year of Czech Music 2024. In November 2024, the readers of Gramophone magazine voted the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra of the Year.
During the Year of Czech Music, Byčkov and the Czech Philharmonic undertook an extensive European tour with a programme dedicated to Antonín Dvořák. The year culminated in three concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall, where, in addition to Dvořák’s three instrumental concertos, the orchestra performed Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and the compositions Vyšehrad, Vltava and Šárka from the My Country cycle of symphonic poems.
The BBC Music Magazine Awards are awarded in 11 categories presented annually by the British BBC Music Magazine. The awards celebrate exceptional recordings in classical music and are one of the industry’s major events. The first edition was held in 2006.
Several Czech artists have received BBC Music Magazine Awards in the past. In 2007, the Smetana Trio was thus honoured for its recording of Dvořák’s trios, and again in 2017 for an album containing Bohuslav Martinů’s complete piano trios.
The BBC Music Magazine award has also twice been given to the Pavel Haas Quartet – in 2007 for Discovery of the Year and in 2016 for their recording of the Smetana Quartets From My Life. In 2020, pianist Ivo Kahánek and conductor Jakub Hrůša received the award in the Concerto category for their recording of the piano concertos by Antonín Dvořák and Bohuslav Martinů with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.
In 2022, soprano Kateřina Kněžíková won the award in the „Vocal“ category for her debut album Phidylé, recorded with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava under the baton of Robert Jindra. The album includes song cycles by Bohuslav Martinů, Henri Duparc, Maurice Ravel and Karol Szymanowski.
“This recording of Smetana’s six-part portrait of his beloved Bohemia was the culminating album of a year that celebrated the bicentenary of the composer’s birth. Byčkov and the Czech Philharmonic put their hearts into it.
— BBC Music Magazine
The Ma Vlast recording project is a document of a particular moment, a labor of love. We would not have been able to do it without the immortal value of Smetana’s creation. It is an iconic work in the Czech musical legacy. It is also a vital part of the Czech Philharmonic’s DNA. To me, this Award signifies not only recognition of our interpretation but, above all, recognition of the universality of Má vlast. We are deeply grateful to all those who voted for this recording.”
— Semyon Bychkov
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