Portrait – 2 CD

This two-CD portrait presents a selection of Richard Novks Supraphon and radio recordings, featuring arias from operas by Mozart, Dvok, Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Mussorgsky, Offenbach, Verdi, Wagner and Janek, as well as songs by Wolf, Schubert, Kika and Dvok. Novk sings bass, accompanied by the Orchestra and Chorus of the Janek Opera in Brno, the Prague Chamber Philharmonia and pianist Gerhard Zeller, under conductors including Frantiek Jlek, Jan tych, Miroslav Hoka, Jaroslav Kyzlink and Tom Hanus. A singer who can perform the Forester at almost 85, at the end of The Cunning Little Vixen, so brilliantly that listeners are left speechless surely knows something about singing, and about life. He benefited from excellent teachers, worked tirelessly throughout his career and was unafraid to start again when he felt his voice was losing its inner support. He won second prize in Toulouse in 1961 and became a laureate in s-Hertogenbosch in 1962. Dvok, Verdi and Janek are the three pillars of his repertoire and three great musical loves. He has appeared at Teatro Coln, the Salzburg Festival under Claudio Abbado, and in Paris, Madrid and Venice, while in oratorios he sang under Karel Anerl and Vclav Neumann. He recorded the Glagolitic Mass with Sir Charles Mackerras and Riccardo Chailly. His beloved song repertoire, especially Dvoks Biblical Songs, also receives ample attention. This portrait honours an admirable man and singer whose lifelong artistic work, however, is far from complete.