“With God’s help and favor, I will one day be a Liszt in technique, a Mozart in composing,” so wrote Smetana in his diary in January 1843. Determination and confidence in his own talent eventually led from Prague, where he came to at age 19 to pursue his ambitions, to his becoming one of the best-known Czech music creators. Jitka Cechová’s new recording, her seventh in this comprehensive recording project, features early pieces, written 1845-46. Many are being released on CD for the very first time; some were used by the composer in his later works or revised.
