In recent years, the Czech label Supraphon has produced two outstanding series, each promoting an outstanding conductor: the Karel Ancerl Gold Edition and the Vaclav Talich Special Edition. The 2 cd release under review is Volume 10 of the Talich series.
Vaclav Talich was chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic from 1919 to 1941 (excluding a brief period in the early 1930s) and was personally responsible for establishing them as a world-class orchestra. It would be hard to underplay his significance to Czech music.
The music on this release is powerful stuff. Firstly, we have Dvorak's Stabat Mater, a sacred cantata written in response to the deaths of his first three children. This is followed by Suk's 2nd symphony, titled Asrael, after the angel of death. Suk wrote the work following the death of Dvorak, his father-in-law, and his wife in 1904 and 1905. Both works are responses to pain and loss. These recordings were made in 1952 and Talich, no stranger to pain and loss, gives gut-wrenching, inspiring performances of both works, drawing on his own trials and privations suffered over the previous decade or so to ellicit every last ounce of feeling out of the scores and the orchestra.
Stabat mater is itself a 13th century Franciscan text, used in the Roman liturgy as both a sequence and a hymn. Dvorak treated the text as an oratorio in 10 parts; his highly emotive style is given full expression in this wonderful, heart-felt piece. Following on from the success of his Slavonic Dances, this piece helped cement Dvorak's standing in Europe and England; it is one of his most significant early works.
Suk's development as a composer was profoundly influenced by the deaths of Dvorak and his (Suk's) wife. The ensuing depression led to a darker form of expression and when he returned to composition, this dark turn manifested itself in his Symphony #2 in C minor, or Asrael symphony. It has been called, not unreasonably, one of the great symphonic works of the post-Romantic era. Dark and tragic, it is a truly compelling work. Along with much else that Suk wrote, it deserves to be more widely known and performed.
The sound in both recordings is excellent, truly superb given the period. The Czech Philharmonic gives a world-class performance under the baton of one of the best, if not the best, interpreters of Czech music. The accompanying booklet is informative and gives some wonderful quotes from Talich with regards to his imprisonment, to pain and suffering, and to his interpretations of both works. Get this release! If you do, and you like it as I do (of course you will!), then let me also suggest you chase down Volume 3 of this series, which sees Talich conducting superb performances of Janacek's Taras Bulba and Suk's Ripening.
The sound, the name, the first international successes, as well as the first recordings made by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, are inseparably linked with the name of Václav Talich. The recordings contained on this CD originated under truly exceptional circumstances and document unrepeatable moments.
The performance of Smetana’s My Country on 5 June 1939 in Nazi-occupied Protectorate Prague – and what’s more, at the National Theatre, perceived as a symbol of national cohesion – was an expressive manifestation of Talich’s patriotism. The moment’s sheer emotional charge gave rise to what may justly be considered the conductor’s finest recording of My Country and, following a long-lasting ovation, the enthusiastic audience spontaneously rounded off the concert by singing the Czech national anthem.
The recording of this concert, and that of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances, which was performed at the National Theatre four days later, have been preserved owing to their direct transmission to several European cities. The recording was made by Radio Norway, which possessed the most advanced audiorecording technology of the time.
This recording, first released by the Czech Philharmonic, was hailed by the distinguished critic Rob Cowan in Gramophone magazine as perhaps the most powerful My Country to have ever been recorded.
