The recordings made by Václav Neumann, the charismatic music director of the Czech Philharmonic from 1968, form one of the cornerstones of the symphonic repertoire in Supraphon's archive. The majority of listeners, however, are not familiar with the albums dating from the previous period. By the time he became head of the Czech Philharmonic, Neumann already enjoyed international renown (in 1955 he began appearing as a guest at Berlin's Komische Oper, from 1964 to 1968 he served as music director of the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig). Under his baton, the splendid Prague Symphony Orchestra made the very oldest recordings of Dvořák's early symphonies (Nos. 1, 2 and 4), a recording of Trojan's orchestrated version of Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, while the Czech Philharmonic recorded Mahler's enchanting song cycles and major international and Czech modern works - by Messiaen (with the composer's wife Yvonne Loriod on the piano), Bořkovec and Sommer. This selection is symbolically rounded off by Dvořák's Nocturne, recorded by Neumann with the Czech Philharmonic in 1968, just a few weeks after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact forces. A number of these unique and sensitively remastered recordings are being released on CD for the very first time.

Unknown Václav Neumann - remarkable recordings from the 1950s and 1960s for the first time on CD