Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Legends, Op 59, B.122 (1881)
Slavonic Rhapsodies, Op 45, B.86 (1878)
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Tomáš Netopil
rec. 2021/23, Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum, Prague
Reviewed as hi-definition WAV files
Pentatone PTC5187221 [80]
2024 has been celebrated as a year of Czech music and we have had a bumper crop of records especially from the excellent Pentatone label. I have been impressed with Bychkov’s Dvořák’s symphonies and his Má Vlast alongside his ongoing Mahler cycle (review) which at a stretch could also qualify as being part of the Czech jamboree, Mahler being a native son of Jihlava on the border of Bohemia and Moravia.
When Jiři Bělohlávek died in 2017 the grand old Czech Philharmonic Orchestra gave the job of Principal Conductor to Semyon Bychkov. I think this was a great choice. Bychkov is a consummate musician with enormous experience and catholic tastes who has done and will do great things with the orchestra. At the time of Bělohlávek’s passing, I remember he and the orchestra had tour dates booked for the UK. Tomáš Netopil a pupil of his stepped in and that is when I first really became aware of him. He fulfilled the task admirably; they visited the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in February 2018 with a pretty much all-Dvořák programme that included the New World and Cello Concerto with Alisa Weilerstein.
Netopil is of the same generation as fellow compatriots Jakub Hrůsa and Tomáš Hanus. Many will know Hanus in his role as Music Director of Welsh National Opera. He makes a speciality of Rusalka and has done so in Vienna and La Scala among other places. Next year, he takes his interpretation to the Berlin Staatsoper. Hrůsa is familiar on record for some truly impressive releases with his Bamberg SO and other ensembles. He has been a regular visitor to Glyndebourne here in the UK and many are excited about his upcoming tenure at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Tomáš Netopil ,also has quite a bit of experience in the pit. He was chief at the National Theatre in Prague for a few years conducting much of the Czech repertory and I see he led a new production of Beethoven’s Leonore at the Wiener Staatsoper just prior to the Covid lockdown. On record he has recorded more than you might think including an impressive Janáček series as well as Martinů, Suk and others. These CDs are mainly on the Supraphon label. I am happy to have the opportunity to sample his first work for Pentatone with Dvořák’s Legends and Slavonic Rhapsodies.
Jonathan Woolf gave a good and honest review of the disc. He contrasted the current performance of Legends with (among others) the venerable old Šejna record. That 1956 version is in mono only but Jonathan admired its style, grace and colour. My comparative versions will, like the previous reviewer, include Iván Fischer with his Budapest Festival Orchestra (obviously!) as well as Mackerras; I am blessed to have his Czech PO version from 2001 and his earlier 1994 version on EMI Eminence. I might also mention a recent version on Linn by the WDR SO under its principal Cristian Măcelaru.
The Legends date from just after Symphony No. 6 and in-between his two sets of Slavonic Dances. Like those, they were originally composed for piano-four hands and orchestrated later. They were dedicated to the famous Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick, who had given early encouragement to Dvořák. It is hard not to love this composer; in whatever genre he writes, he always seems to find something uniquely lovely to say. I personally admire the Legends hugely and do not find them inferior to his other works in this style. I am very happy with the current performance by the Czech PO who must know them intimately. The sound Pentatone provide is warm and ambient and it suits the music well. I cannot do better than the notes by Jan Smaczny in describing these pieces individually so I won’t try. There are countless places where the Czech PO particularly the winds bring colour, charm and an individual take on a phrase that will bring a smile to your face. Netopil chooses middle-of-the-road tempi and nothing is mannered or skewed. It all feels natural and right. The fourth Legend is particularly well developed in its scope and it receives a noble performance here. If we compare Măcelaru in Cologne the sound is more distant although cleaner perhaps. The WDR SO winds and brass cut through more but I prefer Netopil’s more blended sound. Iván Fischer on Philips in 1999 gave us one of the all-time best recordings of the Legends. I am very attached to that version as I am of both Mackerras’ readings. In Legend No. 4, Fischer’s crack band of Hungarians shines in all areas and is hard to beat. Mackerras is polished and elegant in his Supraphon CPO recording and similarly charming in the earlier account with the English Chamber Orchestra (the pieces are actually perfect for a smaller ensemble, the orchestral forces needed being quite modest). You will not be disappointed with this new version, however, which gives all three a run for their money. Like my favourite Brahms symphony, seven of the Dvořák legends end quietly. Could that be a reason for their lack of popularity in the concert hall? Whatever the reasons, with the versions listed above, this new one and several others I could have dug out, there really is no reason not to spend some quality time getting to know these works.
Similarly under-appreciated in Dvořák’s catalogue are the Three Slavonic Rhapsodies of 1878. In the booklet Jan Smaczny calls the year an annus mirabilis forDvořák. Certainly the first set of Slavonic Dances of that year catapulted his reputation internationally and let’s not forget the wonderful serenade for winds too. Fiddle players will also know 1878 was also the birth-year for both the Brahms and Tchaikovsky violin concerti and I cannot resist mentioning a certain HMS Pinafore.
My library version of these pieces is a cheap Naxos issue that looks on first impression nothing special. Experienced collectors know looks can deceive, however, and my record of Zdeněk Košler and the Slovak PO of Bratislava is for me a great reading of the works. Košler like Netopil worked hard in the opera house and was loved by musicians on his side of the East-West divide of those cold war days. Unfortunately for him the communist authorities didn’t share the same enthusiasm and he was not allowed to tour so much and hence his name isn’t as well-known as it should be. His love of Dvořák and his experience with the idiom shines through in his reading of the Rhapsodies which I used in my comparative listening with the new Czech PO recording.
Rhapsody No. 1 is a fun piece. Netopil relishes the rustic dance at 4:33 and its accelerandos. His reading does feel more episodic than Košler but I wouldn’t want to miss out on those cheeky winds at 8:32. Rhapsody No. 2 is more dramatic and develops more elaborately. Here I would choose Zdeněk Košler’s Slovak account over the more recent version as I feel a tighter grip is kept on the tempo and the forward moving thrust of the work as we approach its conclusion.
The final Slavonic Rhapsody No. 3 is my favourite of the set. Solo harp followed by woodwind set out the themes for the piece before strings join in the mosaic. Netopil and the Czech PO are bouncing as the piece really gets going and it’s all joy, optimism and infectious happiness. The reading is fresh and spontaneous sounding. In discussing this last Rhapsody, I cannot sign off this review without a backward glance to a cherished performance of old that, it is sad to say, may be remembered now by too few.
In 1935 English Columbia recorded, pressed and put on sale a two-record set of the Third Slavonic Rhapsody by the newly formed LPO under Sir Thomas Beecham. It was one of the joys of the pre-war catalogue and is one of the prized collection of 78s stashed away in my garage awaiting the proper care and attention they deserve once my retirement as a Maths teacher becomes a reality. I have always loved this performance (which was available on both Dutton and Pearl in the heyday of the CD era). Beecham adored Dvořák and his recording of this rarity is so special for me I am not able to be objective about competitors; sorry. Incidentally, when Beecham was invited by Ribbentrop to tour Germany with the LPO in 1936 his first concert in Berlin, attended by Hitler, Goebbels and the whole Nazi front bench began with the piece. (The story of how that tour came about and the reciprocal visit of the whole shebang of the Dresden State Opera to London is a great one but must wait for another time.) Beecham and Walter Legge got the piece down on three sides of shellac. Can you guess what they selected as the fourth side fill-up? In a kind of coincidence to the record under review they gave us Legend No. 3. Isn’t it funny how this kind of serendipity happens with records? Legends indeed!
If you decide to invest in this lovely new record of fine Dvořák from the orchestra whose first ever concert was conducted by him you will not regret it. Indeed, I think it will put a spring in your step and help you see things in an altogether happier light. It certainly did for me.
Philip Harrison
Previous review: Jonathan Woolf (November 2024)
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