Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)
Violin Concerto No.1, H.226 (1933)
Violin Concerto No.2, H.293 (1943)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Divertimento, for violin and piano (1932)
Josef Špaček (violin)
Miroslav Sekera (piano)
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra/Petr Popelka
rec. 2020-24, Studio 1 of Czech Radio & Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum, Prague
Supraphon SU4371-2 [70]

One of the most convincing partnerships in the Czech world over the past few years has been the pairing of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and their conductor Petr Popelka. They recently produced a splendid Smetana selection, including an admirable Má vlast, and now turn to Martinů’s two solo violin concertos, the first written for Samuel Dushkin in 1933, the second for Mischa Elman a decade later. As befits the very different aesthetics and tonal attributes of the soloists – Dushkin, a wiry Stravinsky-oriented neo-classicist, Elman the Old World luxuriant romantic – the two concertos offer compelling but diametrically differing viewpoints.

The First was a problem child from the beginning and Dushkin never played it. Nor did anyone else until the concerto was premiered, very belatedly, in Chicago by Josef Suk and Georg Solti in 1973, though since then it’s enjoyed rather more interest and has received recordings. One of the most distinguished was by Franz Peter Zimmermann with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and Jakub Hrůša, coupled (as here) with the Second Concerto but adding Bartók’s Sonata for solo violin (review).  Josef Špaček instead has selected to play Stravinsky’s Divertimento with his duo partner, Miroslav Sekera, a stylistically apt choice.

Both Zimmermann and Špaček make equally compelling cases for the concertos and in terms of timings mere seconds separate them. Popelka and Hrůša offer marvellous support. The First Concerto was recorded in Studio 1 of Czech Radio and has a bite and clarity suited to its restless, ostinato-laced nature, taut and tart, but then so was the Second, a much more overtly expressive work. The Stravinsky was recorded in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum somewhat earlier. Špaček, one of the erstwhile concertmasters of the Czech Philharmonic who has now begun a solo career, scores especially highly in the Andante of the First Concerto which is raptly done, quite operatically conceived and beautifully textured. For this period, it’s an unusually untroubled Martinů that we hear. The finale is played with athletic brilliance but never superficially.

Špaček is placed slightly more backwardly in the Second Concerto than in the First but the clarity of recorded sound remains consistent. He negotiates the twists and turns of the music with surety, widening his vibrato in the cadenzas and cadential passages and in the central movement too, where Elman drew from the composer the most naked expression. The deftly exciting finale meets its match in the Czech player, just as it does with Zimmermann. If you want to hear the dedicatee, you can as an off-air recording survives.

Stravinsky’s Divertimento is no mere bagatelle. Its four movements last almost as long as each of the concertos and provides just the kind of rhythmic and expressive variety needed. He worked on it at almost the same time as Martinů was working on his First Concerto, which reinforces the connections between the two works, and the executant involved, Dushkin. Lyric in the Danses suisses, full of scampering wit in the Scherzo (Au moulin) it finishes with a dapper and droll Pas de deux.      

The standard recommendation up to now has been Bohuslav Matoušek’s survey of the violin works on Hyperion multi-volumes with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Hogwood. I can’t easily adjudicate between Zimmermann and Špaček, who are both tremendous ambassadors for this body of music along with their orchestras and conductors, so maybe it will come down to a question of preferable coupling – Bartók or Stravinsky. The fact is, they’re both that good so as far as I’m concerned, I’m going to be unhelpful and declare it a tie.

Jonathan Woolf

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