Although she only lived to be 25, Vitezslava Kapralova has taught a lesson to all those who think that one can only compose music with a licence. This incredibly talented Czech simply wrote music and was on the way to becoming one of the greats before she succumbed to a typhus infection in France in 1940. Two years earlier, she opened the festival of the International Society for New Music in London with her Military Sinfonietta, which was enthusiastically received by the press and the public; her piano concerto, her graduation piece in her home city of Brno, was a brilliant success; her Suite Rustica featuring famous Czech folk songs had all the makings of a "pop hit".... Sometimes it is difficult to comprehend the caprices of destiny.