DVORAK: Slavonic Dances–Complete; Carnival Overture, Op. 92 – Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Vaclav Talich – Naxos

by | Mar 14, 2009 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

DVORAK: Slavonic Dances–Complete; Carnival Overture, Op. 92 – Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Vaclav Talich

Naxos Great Conductors 8.111331, 74:49 [Not Distr. in the USA] ****:

Recorded 27-28 November 1935 at EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 1, these vivacious and infinitely sympathetic readings of the Dvorak Slavonic Dances feature the sublime artistry of Vaclav Talich (1883-1961) then at the peak of his form at the podium.  Remastered by veteran Mark Obert-Thorn, the restored RCA shellacs vibrate and sing with lithe, effulgent energy, especially as the Slavonic Dances provide–akin to Chopin’s mazurkas–an anatomy of the Bohemian, national character in music. While the technique of orchestral form emanates polish and suave execution, we can still hear moments of the Romantic atavisms of portamento and cadential slides in the Czech Philharmonic strings, certainly among the warmest ensemble sounds in recorded history.

What always distinguishes a Talich reading of any score is the insistence on inner-voice interplay, a deft linearity of colors, distinct and mixed at once. No less seamless are Talich’s transitions of tempo, as serenely within the strictures of classical structure as those of Furtwaengler, if a tad more “academic.” We can savor the extraordinary blend of woodwind timbre in the B-flat Major from the Op. 72 set, its sense of pantheistic freedom and joie de vivre. The D-flat Major (No. 4) of Op. 72 begins as a bucolic march but soon evolves into a paean to Nature in the most ravishing terms.  The fiery dances, like No. 8 in G Minor from Op. 46 and the C Major (No. 7) from Op. 72–the latter a Serbian Kolo--convey an almost hallucinatory exuberance, a spirit of abandon and virility that the oncoming political “hordes” of 1935-1937, the rise of Fascism, could never quell. The  supple, breathed power of the last of the set, the A-flat Major, renews itself at each new musical period, a richly textured quilt of variegated sound, from which the cuckoo can intone in the midst of a prayerful orison that beckons to the child in us all.

The Carnival Overture, the second of the so-called Nature, Life, and Love trilogy, bursts forth with superb assertions in the strings and brass, even the percussion made velvet and colorfully supportive. The transitional passages enjoy such light feet that seem to bounce atop the instruments, as though they walked on water. The middle section puts aside the rustic energy and allows the harp, woodwinds and strings to capture the nocturnal magic of Bohemia with that same transparency as the night-section of The Moldau. Leader Stanislav Novak adds his own, intimate dimension to the violin part. The pulsating energy resumes, the sheer tenacity of the life-force; in Talich’s hands a vigorous, yea-saying music that Whitman and Erben could forever hear in their souls.

–Gary Lemco

 

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