Smetana’s Ma Vlast holds a special place in the Czech imagination. Written in the 1870s, when Bohemia was part of the Austrian empire and long before the country was independent, this orchestral epic weaves together myth, history and landscape to paint a compelling portrait of the composer’s homeland. It’s become a symbolic work, and one whose meaning has moved with the times. 

For Smetana, the six movements, each written and premiered individually before the suite’s complete premiere in 1882, represented his vision of independence for the country he loved so much. It was still being played after the democratic First Czechoslovak Republic was formed in 1918; the Nazis later banned the piece for its patriotism. Under communist rule, the composer’s music became a tool of the state; after the Velvet Revolution and independence in 1990, Ma Vlast was the music that summed up the mood of a nation.

 All of which is to say that Ma Vlast comes with deep meaning and history. Not least for the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 1952, the piece has been performed every year at the...