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Artist
Mraz, Bittova, Viklicky, Tropp
2+ albums
folkjazz
about
This was a collaboration between George Mraz, Iva Bittová, Emil Viklický and Laco Tropp on album Moravian Gems in 2007. Chris Parker's review of 'Moravian Gems' by George Mraz, Iva Bittova, Emil Viklicky, Laco Tropp: The folk music of Moravia, the eastern part of the Czech Republic, was one of the great composer Janacek's (b. Hukvaldy, 1854) chief inspirations, and pianist Emil Viklicky (b. Olomouc, 1948) likewise draws on its rich traditions to inform many of his compositions and arrangements. World renowned bassist George Mraz (b. 1944, in Pisek in southern Bohemia, but who spent much of his childhood in Moravia, his father's native region) has long admired Moravian folk music, attracted ˇ like Viklicky ˇ by what the latter identifies as 'its interesting old modal scales', and singer Iva Bittova (b. Bruntal, northern Moravia, 1958) had already recorded an album, with the Skampa string quartet, of Janacek's song treatments of Moravian folk poetry, so this aptly titled album, on which the quartet is completed by Viklicky's regular drummer Laco Tropp, is something of a labour of love. Impeccably presented in a sumptuous package that includes all the song lyrics and extensive notes by Doug Ramsey (from which all the above information has been shamelessly plundered), the fourteen-track album comprises not only folk tunes arranged by Viklicky, Mraz and Bittova, but also a Viklicky arrangement of Janacek's 'Sinfonietta' and three originals by the pianist. The result is an en
