The soul of Bohemia: familiar masterpieces and little-known gems for string ensemble by the five most famous Czech composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. The affection and vigor of Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings has kept its freshness while many other works from the same era have receded into obscurity. This performance by the Ciconia Consort lends it a new lease of life: as rhythmically springy and attentive to detail as the ensembles previous, critically acclaimed explorations of the string-orchestra repertoire of France, England, the US and Germany in beautifully curated themes. Janáček’s Suite for Strings is an early work, Romantic in character and recognizably descended from the String Serenades of Dvorák and Tchaikovsky, but nonetheless characteristic of the composer’s quirky language with its adoption of Czech speech rhythms. In 1931, Martinů was also inspired by Czech folk melodies when writing his Partita as a Czech émigré in faraway Paris. However, Martinů develops these melodies in a modern style reminiscent of Béla Bartók. Without slow movements, intimacy, or a poetic character, the character of the suite as a whole is spicy, tough and extrovert: inimitably Martinů. Smetana scored his tone-picture Rybár (The Fisherman), for harmonium, harp, and strings: it is a musical ‘tableau vivant’ after Goethe’s poem Der Fischer, which describes a fisherman who is overpowered by the mysterious and magical pull of the water. The theme of Rybár and Smetana’s haunting translation into music also make it a kind of study for his evocation of the river Vltava in Ma Vlast. A little more familiar is the grave Meditation on the Hymn to St Wenceslas by Dvorák’s student and son-in-law, Josef Suk, in which the old melody is treated like a family heirloom.

REVIEW:

CD Slavic Rhapsody begins at a high level and very excitingly with Dvořák’s String Serenade, which Dick van Gasteren and his Ciconia Consort, the string orchestra from The Hague, present not as a soft-boiled egg, but as a lively and energetic piece of music.

Very expressive, and rhetorically sharpened, with powerful gestures, the fast movements of the Suite for String Orchestra by Leos Janacek are also played, while the two Adagios become effective with great sensitivity.

Suk’s Wenceslas Meditation also benefits from this dynamic, its chorale possessing a moving depth.

The Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) composed his Partita Suite in 1931. It is a neoclassical work in which the underlying folk-musical tone cannot be ignored. The Chamber Orchestra from The Hague enlivens the somewhat academic form with gripping and urgent playing.

Smetana’s short portrait of a fisherman with strings, harmonium and harp closes this CD with which the Ciconia Consort celebrates its 10th anniversary.

-- Pizzicato

Jana Boušková is one of the most globally distinguished harpists of the present day. Her acclaim comes as no surprise – she has garnered numerous prestigious accolades (first prize at the USA International Harp Competition, etc.), performed at major venues all over the world along with renowned artists (Rostropovich, Vengerov, Bashmet, Tetzlaff, and others), and she has gained recognition as a musician (solo harpist of the Czech Philharmonic) and teacher (professor at the Royal College of Music in London and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels) – to name but a few of her accomplishments. Yet Jana Boušková has never forgotten where her roots are and the tradition from which her own artistry and sentiment have grown. The new album, symbolically titled My Country, occupies a special position in her discography. By arranging for the harp their “iconic” pieces, Jana Boušková has paid tribute to the most celebrated Czech composers. My Country is her most personal profession of love for her homeland and the towering figures who shaped her musical landscape. Smetana, Dvorák and Suk made Czech music global – and Jana Boušková makes it resound all over the world again.

Mariss Jansons was one of the most important conductors of our time, celebrated worldwide and held in the highest regard – all the more so since his unexpected death on December 1, 2019. "Mariss Jansons - The Edition," comprising 70 recordings and a box set in representative LP format, documents the final phase of his life and career: his work as chief conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Bavarian Radio Chorus between 2003 and 2019. Predominantly live recordings from Munich, Tokyo, Vienna, New York, Waldsassen, and the Vatican enable listeners to experience for themselves musical highlights that are as moving as they are exciting. The set contains a remarkably diverse repertoire, ranging from symphonic music and great choral works to opera, and from the First Viennese School to 20th century classical music. "Mariss Jansons - The Edition" contains works by a broad range of composers, including complete cycles of the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler respectively. It is supplemented by fascinating rehearsal recordings that bear witness to Jansons's trusting artistic collaboration with the musicians in his orchestra, together with a large-format, approximately 72-page-long booklet containing background information, essays, an interview, and a detailed track listing.

SUMMARY OF MAJOR WORKS:

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (No. 9 appears twice)

Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique

Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1-4 (No. 4 appears twice)

Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 3-4; 6-9

Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (Symphonies Nos. 3-4, 6, & 8 are FIRST RELEASES)

Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 ("Organ")

Schoenberg: Gurre-Lieder

Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 8 (9); ("The Great")

Schumann: Symphony No. 1

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5-7, 9-10

Stravinsky: Petrouchka, Firebird, & Rite of Spring

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 4-6; Pique Dame

Verdi: Requiem

“Bohemian Stories" encapsulates an intimate introspection of some "musical tales" from the Bohemian Romantic chamber music repertoire for violin and piano. In the 19th century we are spectators to an awakening of national consciousness that spreads to literary salons and theaters through the tendency of musicians to want to emancipate themselves from the ways of the hegemonic musical art, through a revaluation of popular heritage, highlighting characters of different historical-musical traditions. Freedom, independence, political autonomy, love of country and the security of one's own identity are the main driving forces of this era. The intent of the musicians of this era is to create a style that will elevate the country's musical language to a musical language of art, infusing it with new elements and an authentic national "character." In Bohemia, then included in the Habsburg Empire, this nationalist movement has a particular intensity, and by the late nineteenth century one can speak of a true "Czech style."

Among the earliest composers devoted to the exaltation of the particular pitch of the Czech melody we have Bedrich Smetana: a style of descriptive music writing in which he tells stories inspired by national legends, very remote historical events, natural landscapes, folk motifs, and rhythms of village dances. The other distinguished representative of Czech music of the second half of the 19th century is Antonín Dvorák, who enriched his vast musical output with elements drawn from the folk heritage not only of the Czech but also of other Slavic peoples (of Slovakia, Moravia, Ukraine, Russia). Leoš Janácek, that poor professor of music in the Moravian province, with a life without any great adventures or illustrious acquaintances, without too much travel and without recognition until the age of sixty where he totally identified with his inner self and his worldview. And the long story of this life of artistic struggles is told by him through his musical work. A hereditary prince of A. Dvorák, Josef Suk is a proponent of a particular nuance of late Bohemian Romanticism that is distinctly coloristic, stretching harmony to the utmost to create a more creative and personal style. Unlike his compatriots, he does not include too many references to traditional Czech music in his compositions.

Collectors and admirers of Dvorak’s music bearing the hallmark of the Czech performance tradition can now add another comprehensive album to put alongside the previous complete Supraphon CDs mapping his chamber, piano, and symphonic works. The acclaimed recording of the symphonies, conducted by Vaclav Neumann, is now followed by Supraphon’s 8-CD box set featuring Dvorak’s orchestral pieces and concertos. In addition to the celebrated Slavonic Dances, it contains a number of rarely recorded symphonic works (the Hussite Overture, My Home, A Hero’s Song), as well as splendid compositions for chamber and string orchestras. Besides recordings made under the baton of Neumann, it provides scope to other great Dvorak conductors – Mackerras, Belohlavek and the rising star Jakub Hruša. The set of orchestral works is rounded off by recordings of concertos, ranging from the virtually unknown Cello Concerto in A major, written by the young Dvorak, to the most frequently performed, the Cello Concerto in B minor. Supraphon has again carefully put together top-quality and time-honoured recordings of works performed by world-renowned soloists.

The Ames Piano Quartet, the resident chamber music ensemble at Iowa State University, holds a unique position in the chamber music field as one of the few piano quartets in the world. The combination of their lush string sound, blended with the orchestral quality of the piano, produces an exquisite and rare sonority. The Washington Post aptly described it as “one of the most heavenly combinations of instruments around.”

The ensemble has toured throughout the United States, including concerts in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, San Diego, and Washington D.C. Internationally they have performed in Canada, Mexico, France, Austria, and the Far East. Most recently the Quartet spent a week concertizing and teaching in Havana, Cuba, the first American chamber music group to perform there in over forty years.

Its members, all present ISU Music Department faculty, include Mahlon Darlington, violinist; George Work, cellist: (Lawrence Bulkhalter violist - discs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8) Jonathan Sturm, violist; and William David, pianist. Since its formation in 1976, the ensemble has recorded eight compact discs, including six for the Dorian Recording label, all of which have received national and international critical acclaim.

Fanfare called its CD of the Dvorak quartets, “one of the best chamber music recordings of the century.”

The Los Angeles Times wrote of a recent Ames Piano Quartet concert, “The four generated nearly limitless excitement … arching lyricism, poetic eloquence, and great accuracy.”

The French magazine La Cote des Arts commented, “The Ames [Piano] Quartet has a full vigorous sound, which deeply touches the soul.”

Reviews of some of the original recordings that make up this set:

Strauss, Widor Quartets
The masterpieces for piano quartet can be counted on the fingers of two hands: two by Mozart, one by Schumann, three by Brahms, two by DvorAk and two by Faure. This record offers two that are certainly not masterpieces, and are probably unknown even to most chamber music players, by composers who made their mark in very different spheres and whose names are not normally associated with chamber music at all. The earlier of them is the one by Richard Strauss, composed in 1884, when, at the age of 20, he was already a precocious and highly professional musician (with almost all the chamber music he composed already behind him). Widor's quartet dates from 1891, when he was in his late forties and already an eminent organist and pedagogue and the composer of a piano trio and quintet, a sonata for cello and piano and numerous shorter pieces—not to mention the first eight of his ten symphonies for organ.

The Strauss is heavily indebted to Brahms, notably in the two expansive, opulent outer movements, but in both the unmemorable quality of the thematic material is stretched too far (nearly 12 minutes, even without the exposition repeat, in the first movement, nearly ten in the fourth) despite the assurance of the actual craftsmanship. Some relief is provided by the nimble Scherzo and the rather sugary Andante (which are listed in the wrong order in the accompanying booklet). In 1885 the quartet was awarded, by a far from unanimous vote, a prize given by the Berlin Tonkiinstler Verein, and when it was played at Meiningen in January 1886 it made such a favourable impression on the audience (which included Strauss's employer, Georg II, Duke of Sachsen-Meiningen, to whom the score was later dedicated) that Strauss was agreeably surprised, "considering," as he wrote to Hans von Billow, "that it is by no means a pleasing or ingratiating work". The Widor is, to my ears, a more original and appealing piece, with a noble, impassioned first movement and an inventive finale, framing a tender, rather elegiac Adagio and a playful Vivace.

The performances, by the Ames Piano Quartet (formed in 1976, and a 'resident' ensemble at Iowa State University), are of outstanding quality, as is the recording by the American company, Dorian; it will not be their fault if the hope expressed in the booklet, "that this release will begin the work of restoring both pieces to the standard repertoire", is not realized.

-- R.G., Gramophone

Czech Piano Quartets
Great Czech piano quartet performances come from Iowa, Ames, IA, to be precise, home of Iowa State University where the Ames Piano Quartet is the chamber music ensemble-in-residence. The group, one of the few full-time piano quartets in the world, has already released several excellent discs on Dorian: the mandatory couplings of quartets by Dvorák, Fauré, and Brahms, plus several ingenious couplings like a disc joining quartets to quartets by Strauss and Widor. This 2002 disc has one of the most fascinating programs yet, uniting three quartets by three different Czech composers: Josef Suk's A minor Quartet, Op. 1; Vitezslav Novák's C minor Quartet, Op. 7; and Bohuslav Martinu's Quartet written in 1942.

All three are three-movement works in the fast-slow-fast pattern, all three last a bit more than 20 minutes, and all three are interesting examples of specific aspects their composer's style. Suk's A minor Quartet, his 1891 graduation piece from Dvorák's composition class, is a passionate but well-crafted piece of ardent romanticism. Novák's C minor Quartet started life as a four-movement student work in 1894, which the composer completely rewrote in 1903, discarding three of the movements and replacing them with the two published outer movements. Martinu's Quartet was written while the composer was living in exile in Jamaica, Long Island, a refugee from war-torn Europe and shows his mature mastery at its height.

The Ames Piano Quartet performs every work with amazing strength and total dedication. With a tight but flexible ensemble, strong but agile technique, and big, passionate tone, the Ames has what these works need to succeed. Its Suk is fervent and sincere, its Novák bold but controlled, and its Martinu driven but lyrical. Though some listeners may find the string's tone a bit edgy, others will find this only adds intensity to the performances. Recorded in Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall in 2002, Dorian's digital sound here is big, close, and direct. It should also be noted that this appears to be the premiere recording of Novák's quartet.

-- James Leonard, All Music Guide

Russian Piano Quartets
orian's pairing of these two piano quartets is particularly apt for a number of reasons, not least of which is the relative rarity of works in this genre by Russian composers. Paul Juon was a student of Sergei Taneyev (himself a student of Tchaikovsky), and it is Juon's Rhapsody that opens the program. A troubled, yearning theme in the cello's lower register sets the course for the entire piece, whose exceptionally rich chromaticism (stopping just short of Scriabin) keeps the music awash in a late-romantic delirium. The drama of the big finale is capped by the return of the cello's theme near the end. It's passionate, Wuthering Heights-type stuff, and the Ames Piano Quartet really pours on the sauce (but not so much that it overruns the plate).


Though written in the same year as Juon's Rhapsody (1906), Taneyev's piano quartet sounds like an earlier work due to its greater reliance on traditional Russian harmonic techniques. It's only slightly less emotionally heated, and the high strings' singing of the first movement theme brings to mind Chausson's Concert for violin, piano, and string quartet. The second movement features a catchy tune that would make a great rock n' roll anthem today. Taneyev's finale is even bigger that Juon's, though it also employs a cyclic device, in this case bringing that fetching second movement theme back for another rendition. As if two big chamber works were not enough, the disc is packed with Borodin's Polovtsian Dances in a mostly satisfying arrangement (you might miss the oboe) by Geoffrey Wilcken. Again, the Ames Piano Quartet plays with power, sensitivity, and brilliance. Dorian's recording places the piano well to the rear, but the live acoustic perfectly balances it with the strings.
--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

Review of complete set:

While piano trios abound and string quartets are a dime a dozen, what's rare are extant, long-standing piano quartets. Compared to the former two ensembles, repertoire for the latter is less abundant but no less significant. Piano quartets are often performed by piano trios who add a viola or string quartets that sit out a member and add a pianist. The result, however, is a temporary ensemble that lacks the benefits of performing long term with the same musicians. The Ames Piano Quartet proves that not only can a piano quartet exist as its own entity, but that it can thrive. Originally formed in 1976 at the University of Iowa and now faculty artists at Iowa State University, the Ames Piano Quartet has made a name for itself as skilled interpreters of the standard popular repertoire as well as champions of new and lesser known works. The present eight-disc collection showcases the recordings the group made on the Dorian label from 1989 through 2009. Listeners will enjoy stunning, thoughtful interpretations of warhorses of the repertoire like the three Brahms quartets, two from Dvorák, and quartets from Schumann, Fauré, and Strauss, as well as enlightening performances of rarely performed quartets by Suk, Martinu, and Widor. Taken from recordings made across two decades, there is an understandable variability in recorded sound quality from disc to disc, and the Ames does not have the most spotless intonation in the world. What it does have that many others lack is a clear, singular, unified vision of the score. Every articulation, every phrase, every dynamic, and every nuance is perfectly matched across the four members. Balance within the ensemble is also pleasantly fluid, shifting to allow the melody to come to the fore without obscuring the inner voices. Adding to its polished playing and far-reaching repertoire is a very informative and well-written set of liner notes that make this collection one well worth checking out.

-- Mike D. Brownell, All Music Guide

The story of the Prague Symphony Orchestra is closely related to the history of the Czech capital, which leaves an impression on their repertoire. After their successful recording of Karel Husa’s Music for Prague 1968 (Supraphon, 2021), the orchestra and its chief conductor are coming up with another album dedicated to Prague. This time, the program is focused on the late 19th century, i.e. the period when the Czech nation fought for its language, culture, and identity within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The backbone of the record is Suk’s monumental symphonic poem Praga, based on the Hussite chorale, “Ktož jsú Boží bojovníci” (Ye Who Are Warriors of God); Vyšehrad from Smetana’s famous cycle Má vlast (My Country); and a rarity: Pohádka o Šemíku (A Tale of Šemík), which is a largely unknown symphonic poem based on an ancient Czech legend connected with Vyšehrad, by Otakar Ostrcil, composed when he was nineteen. And of course, there is Antonín Dvorák. In hardly any work of his is Dvorák as explicitly patriotic as in his overture My Home (which is not very well known either). It is based on the theme of the popular song “Kde domov muj,” which later became the Czech national anthem. Another rarity of this album is Dvorák’s fanfare for the opening of the National Jubilee Exhibition in Prague. After their acclaimed recording of the composer’s Slavonic Dances, the Prague Symphony Orchestra confirm that the Czech repertoire of late Romanticism is their native and most natural language. The romantic and legendary city of Prague on a record of the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

Noted for having “an extraordinary range of color” (Montreal Gazette) and “poetic brilliance” (Toronto Star), pianist Francine Kay is acclaimed for the beauty of her sound and the intensity and depth of her interpretations. Ms. Kay has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall, the Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio, Salle Gaveau in Paris, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. She has also appeared on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and the Bargemusic series in New York City, and she has been a soloist with orchestras across Canada and the United States. Ms. Kay’s recordings have received international accolades. She dedicates this new album to important Czech composers, highlighting this rich musical culture: evocative melodies, inspired harmonization, dance rhythms, and a variety of moods.

BEDRICH SMEANTA; ANTONIN DVOARK; JOSEF SUK; VITEZSLAV NOVAK; LEOS JANACEK: The Smetana Quartet; The Panocha Quartet; The Skampa Quartet. (3CDs) THE BEST OF CZECH CLASSICS - STRING QUARTETS - BEDIRCH SMETANA: String Quartet No. 1 in E minor 'From My Life'; String Quartet No. 2 in D minor; ANTONIN DVORAK: String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major, Op. 51 'Slovonic'; String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96'american' ; String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106; JOSEF SUK: Meditation on an Old Czech Hymn 'St Wenceslas', Op. 35a; VITEZSLAV NOVAK: String Quartet No. 1 inspired by Tolstoy's 'Kreutzer s

These two works make a logical coupling, though they never have been paired before. Indeed, “A Winter’s Tale” seems to be receiving its CD premiere. An early work, Suk hasn’t quite shaken off the influence of his illustrious father-in-law, Dvorák, but this confidently shaped and scored, melodically memorable piece already offers a taste of the composer to come in its darker emotional tone. “A Summer’s Tale” is one of a series of works in which Suk came to terms with the tragic death of his wife. It’s a nature poem on the grandest scale (the last movement, “Night”, is of positively transcendental beauty), and a heartfelt masterpiece that would be better known if it weren’t so horrendously difficult to play. The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra may not be the Czech Philharmonic, but they undoubtedly know the score, and they acquit themselves admirably. There also is some fine playing from the principal trumpet, as well as from the two English horn soloists in the very Slavic, haunting third movement (called “Blind Musicians”). A fine disc.

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This second release from young Czech conductor Jakub Hrusa is definitely better than his first one. The Prague Philharmonia is very much a chamber orchestra, and so you won't find the weight that, say, Dorati brings to the American Suite (Decca) or Belohlávek enjoys in the splendidly evocative Fantastic Scherzo (Chandos). But aside from the second movement of the Dvorák, which really needs a sharper attack, there's no lack of energy--and there's plenty of attractive detail (particularly in the wind parts) that often goes unnoticed in performances with larger ensembles. Still, I'm not giving up the power and luxurious color of my big-orchestra versions anytime soon.

Indeed, the Suk Serenade is extremely beautiful as well as unusually lively. Despite its appealing lyricism and melodic charm it's a tough piece to bring off. With its sequence of moderately paced inner movements, monotony is an ever-present threat, even in versions coming from Czech performers. Hrusa characterizes the work quite effectively, with the necessary lightness as well as rhythmic point. The program also has been very intelligently chosen: none of these pieces is that familiar, but all are very beautiful and worth hearing, so this disc may well fill a gap in many Czech music collections. Warm, well-balanced sound completes this recommendable package.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) by Josef Suk. Ensemble: Prague Philharmonia. Conductor: Jakub Hrusa.

Experience the lush sound of the Dresden Piano Trio performing classic trios by composers Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček, and Josef Suk. This recording evokes the passionate nature of the repertoire, creating a memorable musical journey for the listener.

The Dresden Piano Trio, comprised of Roglit Ishay, piano, Kai Vogler, violin and Peter Burns, violoncello, was founded following a cooperation between Kai Vogler and Roglit Ishay at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. The ensemble debuted in 1990 in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. The trio has given many concerts throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. The repertoire includes all the major works for piano trio from the late Romantic era to the early 20th century.

All tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology.

Receiving great acclaim worldwide along with the most noteworthy triumphs, the Czech Chamber Orchestra, revived by Jozef Vlach, brings us Legendary Recordings. Josef Vlach is far from being as well known as he deserves to be. Vlach co-founded the orchestra at the age of 23 after Vaclav Talich was falsey accused of collaborating with the Nazis and was banned from working with the Czech Philharmonic. The maestro was known for requiring the utmost artistic quality, diligence and engagement from his musicians. Under his supervision, the orchestra performed in Osaka in 1960, the Salzburger Festpiele in 1962, toured in USA, Germany, the UK and many other countries.

Selection includes Reminiscences of Václav Talich.
Selection includes Václav Talich rehearsing Dvorák's Cello Concerto.
Selection includes Speech by Václav Talich on his name day.
Selection includes Václav Talich rehearsing Dvorák's "New World" Symphony.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology.

Classical Music

This is one of the few recordings of Josef Suk's rarely performed Symphony, with which the composer came to terms with personal blows of fate, captured in this recording with sensitivity and meticulous detail. This production marks the beginning of a highly promising collaboration between the Essen Philharmonic and OehmsClassics. Meyerbeer's Le prophete has already been planned for 2018.

-----

REVIEW:

This is as sober as vivid a performance of Suk’s Asrael Symphony. Tomas Netopil’s account of this work is eloquent in every respect and a worthy alternative to existing recordings.

– Pizzicato

SMETANA / SUK / NOVAK: Piano Trios

Classical Music

DVORAK; SUK; JANACEK; SMETANA; JEZEK; MARTINU; GRIEG; SCHUMANN;RESPIGHI; BRAHMS; SCHUBERT; DEBUSSY; POULENC; FRANCK; MOZART;HONEGGER; KODALY SUK (VIOLIN); HOLECEK, PANENKA, HALA (PIANO), SKAMPA (VIOLA);NAVARRA (CELLO) JOSEF SUK: EARLY RECORDINGS- ROMANTIC PIECES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANOOP. 75; FOUR PIECES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO, OP. 17; SONATA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO; SONATINA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO IN D MAJOR, OP. 137 NO. 1; SONATINA FOR VIOLIN AND CELLO; ETC.

Josef Suk began writing the funeral symphony Asrael to commemorate his teacher and father-in-law Antonín Dvořák. During the course of work, however, Fate dealt him another crushing blow: Asrael, the Angel of Death, took away Suk’s wife and Dvořák’s daughter Otilie. The symphony is a story of a suffering whose strength seems simply unendurable, yet also a story of its overcoming, seeking solace and hope. Sir Charles Mackerras’s live recording of Asrael originated on a Good Friday, 6 April 2007, one hundred years after the symphony’s premiere. The young Australian conductor had first heard about Asrael some sixty years previously from Suk’s close friend, Václav Talich. In later years, Mackerras confessed that he perceived the work in a completely different light after his daughter had died. Sir Charles conducted Suk’s Asrael during one of his last performances with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. It is also his last previously unreleased recording with this orchestra.

Classical Music

Dvorák's sunny Violin Sonata is a typically lovely work of his maturity, written about the same time as the Violin Concerto, and this performance would be difficult to better. Pavel Šporcl captures the work's lyrical effusiveness effortlessly, but always with that enlivening sense of rhythm that gives Dvorák's innate tunefulness its strength of character. Pianist Petr Jiríkovsky accompanies with what can only be called enthusiastic discretion, yielding to his partner where necessary but never sounding inhibited or excessively modest.

Suk's Four Pieces date from 1900, and unsurprisingly they reveal the influence of Dvorák, the composer's teacher and father-in-law. They are delightful, and already in the Appassionato and the concluding Burleske we can hear something of the composer's darker, moodier personality beginning to emerge. Among the shorter works, the Notturno is the same piece later arranged for strings, after originating in the early Fourth String Quartet and spending some time in the String Quintet No. 2 (with double bass). It's lovely no matter how you hear it, and Šporcl also has a blast with the Kreisler arrangements of the Slavonic Dances. Ideal sonics complete an irresistible release.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

SUK / DVORAK: Serenades for Strings

Jennifer Pike's latest CD is an exploration of the music of Bohemian masters. In commemoration of the centenary of the outbreak of World War I it features one of the great masterpieces of the violin repertoire, Janacek's poignant Violin Sonata written in 1914, alongside his other captivating miniatures for violin and piano. Also on the disc are Josef Suk's haunting and virtuosic Four Pieces for Violin and Piano and Dvorak's ever popular Four Romantic Pieces op 75. As an epilogue to this varied and emotional journey the disc concludes with Dvorak's transcendent Nocturne in B major. - JenniferPike.com

Since bursting onto the musical scene as a prodigiously talented youngster, Jennifer Pike has earned admirers the world over with her intelligent musicianship and dazzling technique. Her stunning recent recording of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, described in The Mail on Sunday as an ‘auspicious entry into the big league’, confirmed her status as a truly outstanding soloist of the highest calibre. Here she is joined by her established duo partner Tom Poster in music for violin and piano by three great Czech composers.

Dvorák’s four Romantic Pieces, originally composed for string trio, are miniatures of beguiling simplicity and unselfconscious lyricism. The Nocturne in B major also started life in a different guise, this time as an abandoned movement from the String Quartet in E minor.

Josef Suk was a member of a generation of Czech composers who built on the foundations which Dvorák and Smetana had laid. His Four Pieces were something of a turning point in his output, widening his range of harmony and expression; they develop from the serious and dark qualities of the first, ‘Quasi ballata’, to the high spirits of the concluding ‘Burleska’.

The Violin Sonata is perhaps the first work that Janácek composed in his strikingly original mature style. Each movement is built from highly charged and intensely expressive melodic fragments. The Allegro recorded here was originally intended as the Sonata’s final movement but later replaced. The Romance and Dumka come from a much earlier period in the composer’s life but no doubt demonstrate a Slavonic spirit that was to remain with Janácek always.

Review:

She is particularly alluring in Dvorak's Romantic Pieces, by turns intimate, consoling and confiding - and always beautifully controlled. Pike and Poster make a great double-act. A fine recording and informative notes complete an enticing disc.

– Gramophone

Classical Music

BOHEMIAN IMPRESSIONS • Václav Neumann 1 , Libor Pe?ek 2 , cond; Czech PO; 3 Jí?í B?lohlávek, cond; Prague Philharmonia • SUPRAPHON SU 4058-2 (68:02)


1 SMETANA Má Vlast: From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields. 1 DVO?ÁK Czech Suite: Preludium; Romance. In Nature’s Realm. 2 SUK A Summer’s Tale: Intermezzo. 3 NOVÁK Moravian-Slovak Suite: The Lovers; The Country Musicians. 1 MARTIn? Bouquet of Flowers: Idyll. 1 JANÁ?EK The Cunning Little Vixen: Introduction. Lachian Dances: “The Saws.” 1 FIBICH Poem. At Twilight


Bohemian, certainly, but also Moravian—though it would have been a less catchy title. In any case, geographic quibbles aside, this is a simple sampler, a compilation from Supraphon and Panton’s vaults of material that will be very well known in original guise.


We start with Má Vlast , but not, fortunately, Vltava . Instead we hear Václav Neumann’s mid-1970s recording of the piece known to one and all as From Bohemia’s Woods and Meadows , before a process of Virgilian change transformed them first to Woods and Fields and now, apparently, to Fields and Groves. The world of translation truly never sleeps. I prefer Neumann’s Czech Philharmonic performance to his less idiomatic earlier Leipzig one. His Dvo?ák Czech Suite is represented by two movements notable for illustrating the highly nuanced and personalized sound of the inimitable wind section—all freshness and vocalized wit. A more substantial offering, however, comes in the form of the concert overture In Nature’s Realm , recorded in the early 1980s. The LP from which this derives sported various other overtures including Carnival, Othello, and My Home . Again there’s plenty for the winds to do here, in particular, though the recording doesn’t register with quite as much immediacy as the earlier ones.


It’s Neumann who bears the bulk of the recordings. He also directs the sole Martin? piece, the Idyll from The Bouquet of Flowers , always a joy to hear. And Janá?ek is represented by two pieces, the introduction to The Cunning Little Vixen and “The Saws—from the Lachian Dances, which are both, necessarily perhaps, somewhat unrepresentative. Zden?k Fibich’s Poem , that luscious onetime standby of fiddle players, is lusciously and lovingly played. Libor Pe?ek’s mid-’80s recording of Josef Suk’s Intermezzo from A Summer’s Tale , a finely evocative torso, is adeptly played by the Czech Philharmonic. Vít?zslav Novák’s Moravian-Slovak Suite is represented by two of the central movements, a contrasting pair well chosen for this purpose.


The recordings date from 1971 to 1998. I’m sure this taster disc would interest the casual listener. Sterner auditors may not, of course, wish to sully their shelves with a mere compilation of this sort.


FANFARE: Jonathan Woolf