Antonín Dvořák; Josef Suk - Stabat Mater; Asrael Symphony (Václav Talich)

Information

Composer: Antonín Dvořák; Josef Suk

• Dvořák - Stabat Mater, Op. 58
• Suk - Asrael, Op. 27

Drahomíra Tikalová; Marta Krásová

Beno Blachut; Karel Kalaš

Prague Philharmonic Choir

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Václav Talich, conductor

Date: 1952/2006

Label: Supraphon

https://www.supraphon.com/album/383-talich-special-edition-10-dvorak-stabat-mater-suk-asrael

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 7

If I had to choose any pair of performances that represent Václav Talich at his best, it probably would be these. He was a close friend of Josef Suk, and his recordings of Asrael and Ripening remain the benchmarks by which all others should be measured. He delivers an enormously gripping, high-impact performance of the Asrael Symphony here, characterized by magnificent playing from the Czech Philharmonic. The climaxes are thunderous, but the delicate moments in the second and third movements are played with exceptional sensitivity and a marvelous feel for the music’s light and shade. Sonically this always was very good for its day. Yes, it’s mono, but the balances are excellent, and at the end of the first movement the brass bray and the bass drum thuds terrifyingly, and the entire passage comes across with more impact and clarity than in some modern digital recordings (Belohlávek’s, for instance, on Chandos). In short, this is must-have Talich.

The same holds true of the Stabat Mater. The circumstances of Talich’s life in the early 1950s make this recording of Dvorák’s most sorrowful work particularly moving. After being falsely accused of Nazi collaboration (for which he was briefly imprisoned), his enemies in the new communist regime mostly forbade him to conduct the Czech Philharmonic. Only the occasional recording stands as a testimony to his legacy with the orchestra he had led for decades prior to the Second World War.

This performance is really splendid: the great choral exordium at the beginning (perhaps the most powerful extended choral lament since of the opening chorus of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion) is overwhelmingly moving. The Prague Philharmonic Choir sings fabulously, and the soloists (including legendary tenor Beno Blachut) were the best available. Happily, the engineering is just as fine as in the symphony, and both sound better than ever in these clean, honest transfers. Essential. [9/14/2006]

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews;

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/Aug01/Suk_Asrael_Talich.htm

https://www.allmusic.com/album/dvor%C3%A1k-stabat-mater-suk-asrael-mw0001386720

https://www.amazon.com/Vaclav-Talich-10-Dvorak/dp/B000FBFVNK

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Antonín Dvořák (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. He was the second Czech composer to achieve worldwide recognition, after Bedřich Smetana. Following Smetana's nationalist example, many of Dvořák's works show the influence of Czech folk music, such as his  two sets of Slavonic Dances, the Symphonic Variations, and the overwhelming majority of his songs. Dvořák wrote in a variety of forms: nine symphonies, ten operas, three concertos, several symphonic poems, serenades for string orchestra and wind ensemble, more than 40 works of chamber music, and piano music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonín Dvořák

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Josef Suk (4 January 1874 – 29 May 1935) was a Czech composer and violinist. Known as one of Antonín Dvořák's favorite pupils, Suk became very close to his mentor and later married Dvořák's daughter, Otilie. He was also the grandfather of famed Czech violinist Josef Suk (1929-2011). Suk, alongside Vítězslav Novák and Otakar Ostrčil, is considered one of the leading composers in Czech Modernism. Although he wrote mostly instrumental music, he occasionally branched out into other genres, such as chamber music and music for solo piano. As a violinist, Suk was a member of the Bohemian Quartet. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Suk_(composer)

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Václav Talich (28 May 1883 – 16 March 1961) was a Czech conductor, violinist and pedagogue. He studied violin with Otakar Ševčík and conducting with Arthur Nikisch. From 1919 to 1941 Talich was the Czech Philharmonic's chief conductor, raising its prestige to world levels, touring widely with it, and recording Czech music for EMI. Particularly noted for his interpretations of Czech composers such as Dvořák, Smetana and Suk, Talich also did much to bring the operas of Janáček into the standard repertoire. Talich also taught a good deal, with Karel Ančerl and Charles Mackerras among his pupils.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Václav Talich

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