The musical production of Max Brod (1888 - 1968) was somewhat eclipsed by his other activities, most notably by his literary output which included above all translations of librettos of Leoš Janáček's operas whose path to world fame he thereby helped to pave. And yet, Brod was likewise an interesting and erudite composer, one whose musical tastes had been formed by his friend and a pupil of Dvořák's, Adolf Schreiber. Hence also Brod's mocking reference to himself as a Dvořák pupil "twice removed." Brod's compositional legacy, consisting of 38 opuses, has its dominant element in song cycles: a genre wherein music blends with words, which was obviously closest to his nature as an artist, and in whose potential he clearly believed the most. Accordingly, the present profile album is centered around an assortment of songs, supplemented by the piano rhapsody, La Méditerranée, and a piano quintet. Featuring most prominently in the recording's formidable performing forces is the phenomenal baritone Ivan Kusnjer, an artist who has had no peer in his field on Czech concert platforms throughout the last two decades.