Description
Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940) was a Czech composer and conductor. Born to a musical family she studied composition and conducting at the Brno Conservatory, before moving to Prague and then to Paris where she was taught by Bohuslav Martinů and Charles Munch. In 1937 she conducted the Czech Philharmonic and a year later the BBC Orchestra in her composition Military Sinfonietta.
Despite being only 25 when she died (just two months after marrying Czech writer Jiří Mucha) she left an impressive body of work including numerous songs and choral works, piano pieces, chamber music and larger orchestral works. Kaprálová’s Christmas Prelude for Chamber Orchestra was composed in 1939 and originally recorded for broadcast as part of the Paris PTT Radio program Noël à Prague on Christmas Eve of that year. The piece has infectious rhythmic drive and complexity, and interesting harmonic juxtapositions. It most certainly conjures up the joy and magic of Christmas.
