Thanks to NYU Prague professor Patricia Goodson, the music of the little-known Czech Romantic composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster has been brought back to the world’s musical foreground. She recently released the world premiere recording of his complete piano works on the prestigious Dutch label Brilliant Classics. The four CD set has received extensive critical acclaim both in the Czech Republic and abroad.
Foerster was a highly-respected composer in interwar Czechoslovakia, but in the second half of the 20th century his music virtually disappeared from concert halls. Professor Goodson discovered his compositions by chance in a second-hand store: “I was astonished at how lovely it was, and how completely unknown. I had never heard of Foerster. I tried to find some recordings, but found that …there was [practically] nothing. Out of some 70 pieces, only five had been commercially recorded. So I began collecting the scores- everything is long out of print – and decided to see if I could get a grant to record the complete works. I did, and the project took off.“
Experts and critics have celebrated Patricia’s efforts. “Patricia Goodson’s project is an extraordinary and unique contribution to the effort to return this music to its former popularity,“ says Jana Fojtikova, president of the JB Foerster Society. The prestigious German FonoForum magazine wrote that “Foerster’s broad body of work is still significantly under-represented … so this complete collection of his solo piano repertoire fills a massive gap.“ Professor Goodson has also received praise for her nuanced and expressive interpretations. The release has been the subject of shows on numerous classical radio stations in Prague and abroad.
Prague audiences will get the chance to enjoy some of the little-known work at a launch concert on April 29 in Prague, which will feature guests artists soprano Irena Troupová and the Stamic Quartet. Others can enjoy the CD, which is available on Amazon, Arkivmusic as well as on international websites. You can learn more about it on Professor Goodson’s website: www.patriciagoodson.com.