Vaclav Talich, Special Edition 17 = Works of SMETANA, BLODEK, KOVAROVIC, JANACEK, SUK & DVORAK – Czech Philharmonic/Talich – Supraphon

by | Jan 15, 2008 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

Vaclav Talich, Special Edition 17 = SMETANA: Ma Vlast (My Country): Vysehrad; Vltava; Sarka; Our Lasses; Libuse–Overture; The Two Widows–Anezka’s recitative and aria; Prague Carnival; BLODEK: In the Well–Overture; KOVAROVIC: Miners’ Polka; JANACEK: The Cunning Little Vixen–Suite (arr. Talich); SUK: A Fairy Tale: The Swan and Peacocks Game; DVORAK: The Noonday Witch, Op. 108; Talich in Rehearsal – Ludmila Dvorakova, soprano/Mstislav Rostropovich, cello/ Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Vaclav Talich

Supraphon SU 3837, 77:38; 55:10 (Distr. by Qualiton) ****:

The final installment in the refurbished tribute to conductor Vaclav Talich (1883-1961) includes work from both ends of his recorded legacy, including three excerpts from his first inscription, the 3-6 September 1929 Smetana My Country for HMV, which remains a pungent interpretation despite its age: aggressive, volatile, driven–even to the point of some uneven ensemble–but seamlessly conceived and focused. The call to heroism of The High Castle soon yields to the natural mysticism of the Moldau; then the Amazon Sarka engages in monumental, ritual slaughter. The first of what were to be three recordings of this national, Czech treasure, the eminently athletic 1929 survey proved to be the benchmark for all future readings of this impressive cycle.

The composer Vilem Blodek (1834-1874), hardly remembered today, has one representation from Talich, the In the Well Overture from 1940. Slight as the music may be, Talich provides a surging cello and upper string line, the woodwinds and triangle chirping a transparent polka rhythm with alternate grace and force. The remainder of the happy piece reminds one of Otto Nicolai. Karel Kovarovic (1862-1920) provides another slight addition to the Talich legacy, a hearty polka in the manner of Johann Strauss II. Smetana’s contribution to the Slavonic dance comes in the form of Our Lasses, a heavy, foot-stomping affair that tries to whirl its way to lighter atmosphere. The Overture to Libuse, on the other hand, borrows its formulae from Wagner, the trumpet work courtesy of Rienzi and Tannhauser. Bass grumblings and horn fanfares finally coalesce into a heaving body of sound, rather militant, while bathed in the CPO sheen and timbral elegance. Soprano Ludmila Dvorakova joins Talich (24 April 1953) for a rare operatic excerpt, in which the widow Anezka (in Act II) laments her loveless isolation on a day when others are enjoying blissful companionship. The helter-skelter Prague Carnival (6 June 1953) plays as a frenetic polonaise, lacking the direct, folksy inspiration the composer manifests in his incidental dances for The Bartered Bride.

The magical, dreamy mysticism of Janacek’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen (12-13 April 1954) in the Talich arrangement as an instrumental suite conveys virtuosic color, a quality well-known to lovers of Talich’s brilliant recording of that same composer’s Taras Bulba. Aside from the sweep of the tutti passages in modal Technicolor, the string and woodwind concertinos enjoy all the benefits of chamber music intimacy.  It was the music of Josef Suk (1874-1935), particularly his tone-poem Ripening, that provided Talich his first meteoric success in 1918. Suk’s Pohadka, Op. 16 (1900; live 18 March 1954) leans heavily of Slavonic elements in Dvorak, a hurdy-gurdy effect and lithe string writing which quite sail under Talich’s direction. The 2 June 1954 Noonday Witch of Dvorak unfortunately relies on the heavily cut edition Talich favored in this–and various recorded–audacious orchestral rendering of a ballad by Erben. Still, for the realization of eerie, chilling color effects, the Czech Philharmonic raises quite a few hairs on the backs of auditors’ necks.

The four tracks of this historic disc devote themselves to Talich’s working methods in rehearsal–of the Dvorak New World Symphony (1954) and the Cello Concerto with Rostropovich (1952)–the truly linear vision Talich communicated to his players, telling them that a musical line in context should not be broken by a ritard of any kind. The palpable effects of his admonitions clearly reveal themselves. In his last recorded “interview” (7 November 1956), he mentions obliquely the injustices he suffered under the Communist regime, banned as he was from performing at Rudolfinum. His beloved Czech Philharmonic plays for Talich the Castaldo March on his name-day, 28 September 1954, and he gratefully accepts good wishes while praising the virtuosity of his concertmaster, Karel Sroubek. Hear this saintly man in concert and in his person, for his was a martyrdom for music.

— Gary Lemco

 

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