Josef Suk - Prague; A Summers Tale (Jiří Bělohlávek)

Information

Composer: Josef Suk

• Pohádka léta (A Summers Tale), symphonic poem, Op. 29
• Prague, symphonic poem, Op. 26

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Jiří Bělohlávek, conductor

Date: 2012

Label: Chandos

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205109

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Review

Regarding British performances of music from beyond these shores, Jiří Bělohlávek is to Czech repertoire what John Wilson is to Broadway: both have imported unprecedented levels of musical authenticity, in Bělohlávek’s case climaxing in his superb live Martinů symphony cycle (also for Chandos) and this fine coupling of works by Josef Suk. The added advantage here is the exceptional acoustic of the Watford Colosseum, potentially a godsend but only when a crack production team knows how to exploit its strongest qualities.

Both scores convey the essence of Suk’s orchestral style, his wide range of musical moods, the subtlety of his palette, his expert use of solo instruments (woodwinds especially), his distinctive harmonic language and his ability to chart powerful climaxes without resorting to bombast. In lesser hands the close of Praga can sound like a filmic recollection of Má vlast’s finale but not here, where the cumulative impact of the piece (complete with thundering organ) is immense. Praga does indeed call on the famous Hussite theme that Smetana ruggedly manipulates in ‘Tábor’ and the effect achieved by Suk is similarly humbling. Bělohlávek’s performance presents a more integrated tone-canvas than does Libor Pešek with the Czech Philharmonic for Supraphon, where the brass are more strident, though the Czech woodwinds are inimitably individual.

Pešek’s coupling, like Bělohlávek’s, is the sizeable, at times Scriabinesque A Summer’s Tale, a slightly later piece that calls on those same qualities of interpretation – sensitive balancing, an appreciation of textual variety, a keen appreciation of shifting perspectives and an ear for musical line. As with Praga, this richly scored and often exciting early-20th-century score is infused with local flavouring, at times disquieting (startling premonitions of Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony at 2'52" into the second movement, ‘Midday’), and Bělohlávek holds the tension in both pieces from the first bar to the last. Wonderful!

-- Rob Cowan, Gramophone

More reviews:

MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH

https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/z9gw/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/aug/30/suk-summers-tale-prague-belohlavek

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Suk-Orchestral-Symphony-Orchestra-Blohl%C3%A1vek/dp/B008L62Y9K

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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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Jiří Bělohlávek (24 February 1946 – 31 May 2017) was a Czech conductor. He was born in Prague and graduated from the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts. Bělohlávek was a leading interpreter of Czech classical music, and became chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1990, a role he would serve on two occasions during a combined span of seven years (1990–92, 2012–17). He also served a six-year tenure as the chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2012. He gained international renown for his performances of the works of Czech composers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiří Bělohlávek

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