Presented here is the second poem by a Czech composer named Bedřich Smetana as he arranged for a piano duet. This is a set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879. This poem is called Vltava, also known by its English title The Moldau, and the German Die Moldau, which was composed between 20 November and 8 December 1874 and was premiered on 4 April 1875 under Adolf Čech. It is about 13 minutes long, and is in the key of E minor. In this piece, Smetana uses tone painting to evoke the sounds of one of Bohemia's great rivers.

In his own words: The composition describes the course of the Vltava, starting from the two small springs, the Studená Vltava and Teplá Vltava, to the unification of both streams into a single current, the course of the Vltava through woods and meadows, through landscapes where a farmer's wedding is celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in the night's moonshine: on the nearby rocks loom proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft. The Vltava swirls into the St John's Rapids; then it widens and flows toward Prague, past the Vyšehrad, and then majestically vanishes into the distance, ending at the Elbe.

Album by Bedřich Smetana, Daniel Weisner, and Petr Jiříkovský

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