Newsletter 65 — October 2003 (Summary)

This Newsletter is produced with the generous financial support of the Czech Foreign Ministry.

  Page last updated Apr 10 2005

This is a summary of Newsletter No.65. The full text—which for this issue runs to 36 pages of A4-size text and graphics—has been mailed to all members of the Dvořák Society in the United Kingdom and around the world.

Contents

Regular items

Items special to this issue

Editorial

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Janáček and the 100th anniversary of Dvořák’s death, a feast of their music is promised for 2004.

Forty-one members of the Society will be attending the Janáček Opera Festival in Brno in January and February 2004. They will have the opportunity to attend performances of all the composers operas.

In the U.K. there will be performances of Dvořák’s Vanda (University College, London in March) and Rusalka (Opera North). Other productions will be Janáček’s Kaťa Kabanová (Welsh National Opera) and Jenůfa (Glyndbourne, in August).

In the Czech Republic, there will be productions of Dvořák’s Vanda, The Devil & Kate, Rusalka and Jakobin; together with Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and The Excursions of Mr Brouček.

In Slovakia, Janáček’s Kaťa Kabanová is being performed at the Slovak National Theatre.

All contributions to the Newsletter are welcome. For the next issue—No. 66 January 2004—the editorial deadline is 1st December 2003.

Announcements

Every issue of the Newsletter includes announcements on a wide variety of topics. This is an extremely valuable service to Members, because the announcements are by no means limited to those of the Society. The organisations using our pages in this way are truly international. Those in Newsletter No.65 are summarised below.

The Brundibár Project—news has come to us rather late of the project at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester to examine and consider the plight of young people in adversity, reflecting on the past, but justly focusing on the welfare of children around the world today. Hans Krása’s Brundibár—a children’s opera composed and performed 55 times from 1943 in the Ghetto of Terezín, near Prague—will be central to this aim.

The Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, on its US tour, will perform Karel Husa’s Pastoral for Strings in his presence at the Ithaca College subscription concert on 3rd October.

The Dvořák Society’s Flood Appeal is now closed.

Shawn: short & sharp: News from the Secretary (Shawn Pullman)

The Secretary contributes a regular report concentrating mainly on the administration of the Society (including Society trips). His contribution to Newsletter No. 65is summarised below.

Bookings for the Society’s trips to the Janáček Opera Festival in Brno (January & February 2004) and Bratislava/Prague (May 2004) were now closed.

The Czech Centre in London has moved to 13 Harley Street, London W1G 9QG.

The Secretary is himself due to move house on 6 October.

Our Chairman reports: by Graham Melville-Mason

Each issue of the Newsletter includes a report from the Chairman, either dealing with matters of particular importance to the Society or with particularly interesting information drawing on his many contacts with the world of Czech and Slovak music. His contribution to Newsletter No.65 is summarised below.

A New History of Czech Music
Our member Guy Erismann has completed another valuable volume concerning aspects of Czech music for the French speaking world, La musique dans les pays tchèques.

Tribute to Antonín Dvořák 2004
BVA International under the directorship of Jiří Hubač, is responsible for the organisation of the main Dvořák Centenary celebratory events and concerts in Prague on 30th April, and 1st and 2nd May 2004. Details of the programme are given in this section of the full Newsletter.

Czech Opera Returns to Wexford Again This Year
This year a Czech opera has been selected again as one of the three Wexford Festival operas, namely Weinberger’s Švanda dudák (Schwanda the Bagpiper), best known today for its orchestral Polka and Fugue. The full Newsletter gives some interesting information about the composer’s career.

A New Production of Rusalka from Opera North
A new production by Opera North of Dvořák’s Rusalka will open at the Grand Theatre, Leeds in October and will be seen later in Newcastle, Hull, Nottingham and Salford. More details are given in the full Newsletter.

Dvořák Anniversary 2004: New London Orchestra
Member, Ronald Corp, will be adding to the events to mark the centenary of the death of Dvořák in the concert on 10th July 2004 at St. Michael’s Church, Highgate, London with the Highgate Choral Society and his New London Orchestra. The programme is to include Dvořák’s Mass in D (Op.86)[B.175].

And Stop Press
Glyndebourne will be reviving the 1989 Nikolaus Lehnhof production of Janáček’s Jenůfa in summer 2004.

Music News from Slovakia: by Graham Melville-Mason

The first news of next season in Bratislava comes from the Slovak National Theatre which will include a new production of Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová, as well as revivals of other Slovak and Czech operas: Suchoň’s Krútňava, Dubovský’s Tajomný klúč (A Mysterious Key), Smetana’s Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride) and Hubička (The Kiss). Other new productions include operas by Bartók (Bluebeard’s Castle in a double bill with his ballet The Wooden Prince), Donizetti, Handel and Verdi, while there will be revivals of works by Bizet, Donizetti, Giordano, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Massenet, Mozart, Puccini, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Verdi.

Book Review: by Richard Beith

Matej K Schwitzer’s book, Slovakia – The Path to Nationhood, is published in softback by the author himself from 33 Shepherds Hill, London N6 5QJ, at £13.00 including UK post and packing. With the main aim of informing the English-speaking world about Slovakia and the European Slovaks, he has produced a comprehensive study from the time of the Celtic tribes and the fortress of Devín close to present day Bratislava up to the present day. This timely, readable and well-printed book provides a clear guide to Slovak history and is strongly recommended.

Martinů Review: compiled by Greg Terian

Greg Terian is a specialist in the music of Martinů. He contributes an article to each issue. That for Newsletter No.65 is summarised below.

Martinů Festival 2003

Greg gives details of the revised programme for the forthcoming Martinů Festival in Prague. This year’s novelty will be a single performance at the Estates Theatre of the reconstructed opera Le Jour de Bonté. (The Day of Good Deeds has now been adopted as the preferred English translation.) Vanda Procházka, who attended the original dress rehearsal in České Budějovice, described in detail the reconstruction process in Newsletter No. 64. Patrick Lambert saw a performance a few weeks later.

The festival, although predominantly devoted to Martinů’s own music, will include performances of a few pieces by teacher Roussel and Ravel (whom he greatly admired).

2001 Martinů Festival CD
The inclusion of the Concerto for Flute, Violin and Orchestra has been ruled out because of contractual difficulties. The disc should to be posted out in November to all current IBMS members.

Martinů Recording News

Christopher Hogwood has recorded, with the Czech Philharmonic, three of Martinů’s 1927 ballet scores—On Tourne! (first recording), The Amazing Flight and the conductor’s new edition of the complete music for La Revue de Cuisine.

As part of a complete series of all the Martinů concertos featuring the violin, Bohuslav Matoušek is next due to record the Concerto for Two Violins partnered by Regis Pasquier with the Czech Philharmonic under Hogwood. They are also due to perform the work at next year’s Prague Spring Festival. Matoušek is due to appears at the Leamington Spa Festival next May, at St John’s Smith Square in London and at Bedford.

Two Martinů Supraphon re-issues are: SU 3743-2 consisting of a rejigging of performances by Jiří Bělohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic; and SU 3742-2 which is of a long absent 1972 recording of orchestral excerpts from Martinů operas by the Brno State Philharmonic under František Jílek (plus the Neumann/CPO account of the Julietta Suite). This disc is the only way to hear on record the music of The Theatre beyond the Gate (sometimes referred to as The Suburban Theatre).

Youthful Martinů

The young Czech violinist Jana Nováková, presently based in the U.K., was accompanied by her brother Petr Novák at a Chester Festival lunchtime recital on 14th July when she exceeded all expectations with playing of great warmth and sincerity. The encores were two of Martinů’s Five Madrigal Stanzas.

The teenage clarinet virtuoso Julian Bliss performed at the Vebrier Festival on 19th July, where he included Martinů’s Sonatina for Clarinet played with real style and panache.

Echoes of the past: Giulini & Firkušný perform Martinů

An old tape heard recently underlined Giulini’s prowess in supporting the legendary Rudolf Firkušný. On it, Martinů’s Second Piano Concerto, with the New York Philharmonic, is alternately full of fire and sensitivity as required and must rank as one of the finest of Firkušný’s many accounts of the work.

The Lorna Corner

Lorna makes a characteristically wide-ranging contribution to the Newsletter.

What a success!
The Burton Manor weekend to study the Operas of Leoš Janáček was oversubscribed but we packed them all in and had a great time.

Libor’s Birthday Concert
This item includes some photographs taken at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, in June in celebration of Libor Pešek’s 70th birthday, including this one of him with Lorna Dobson. She gives some details of his forthcoming conducting engagements in Singapore, Prague and Amsterdam.

David Popper (1843 - 1913)
This celebrated cellist and composer was born in Prague, studied at the Prague Conservatory and was an acquaintance of Hans von Bülow. This part of the full Newsletter gives some details of his life and career, together with information about two CDs on the Vars label that are available from the Dvořák Society’s Record Service.

Peter Herbert’s Pages

Peter Herbert is a Dvořák Society member based in the north-west of England. He writes a quarterly article on a wide range of matters in each issue of the Newsletter. A summary of his contribution to Newsletter No.65 is below.

Panocha Quartet in Manchester
The group always gets a warm welcome from the Manchester Chamber Concerts Society and their concert back in March was no exception. Haydn’s D Major Op.36 no.6 was, as usual, presented as if it were the main attraction rather than the first item. The Quartet in f minor op.95 “Quartetto serioso” by Beethoven followed and was extremely well received. After the interval we heard Dvořák’s Quartet in C op.61 and it was given the sort of performance that totally belies its internal complexities.

BVA International in 2004
BVA have ambitious plans for the coverage of the Dvořák centenary next year. A link from their Internet page at http://www.bva.cz/ will take you to a series of pages about various projects, including a new film about the composer’s life and details of many of the concerts timed for next May, exhibitions etc.

Moonshine
‘Moonshine’ was a London publication that existed in the decades around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It appears to have been the origin of this cartoon reproduced in the rather curious book on Smetana and Dvořák by Suermondt in the late 1940s/early ‘50s.

It appears that the cartoon one may have been in the issue for September 12th 1885. Can anyone confirm this?

New and recent books
Peter draws attention here to three books of interest to members. Authors are Timothy Cheek, Josef Horowitz and Michael Beckerman.

Reports of Events

Each issue includes reports of events of interest to lovers of Czech and Slovak music. A variety of authors, members and others, contribute. A summary of this section in Newsletter No. 65 follows.

The Operas of Leoš Janáček: Weekend study course at Burton Manor

Members David Button and Rachel Ritter write enthusiastically about this event, where 37 eager and avid music lovers (including six who were not members of our Society) through all nine operas of Leoš Janáček—Šárka, Počátek románu, Jenůfa, Osud, Výlety páně Broučkovy, Káťa Kabanová, Příhody Lišky Bystroušky, Věc Makropulos and Z Mrtvého Domu. From Friday evening to Sunday lunch time the participants were enthralled at the music and story line of the operas.

Opening the Wells at Tři Studně: Martinů & Kaprálová

Miloš Brabec, Mayor of Tři Studně, writes about this year’s spring ceremony of Otvírání studánek (Opening the Wells) at Tři Studně. It was doubly memorable because it marked the 65th anniversary of Bohuslav Martinů’s stay at this Moravian village which became the dedicatee of his cantata; and it saw the unveiling of a memorial to Vítězslava Kaprálová—Martinů’s only Czech pupil—who spent some of the happiest times of her life there. The memorial, funded by The Kaprálová Society, is the work of a local stone mason, Jozef Kosztolányi. Travel and accommodation information is given for those contemplating a visit to the next (2004) ceremony.

Summer activities of the Czech Music Society

Míla Smetáčková writes about the summer schools, courses, meetings, seminars and summer camps organised by the Czech Music Society, which this year attracted one thousand young (and not so young) people to spend part of their free summer time studying all kinds of music and instruments with dozens of outstanding teachers and instrumentalists from the Czech Republic and from abroad. Three of them celebrated important anniverseries The meeting of the Friends of Chamber Music (together with interpretation courses) celebrated its thirtieth in the South Bohemian spa of Bechyně: the International Summer School of Early Music celebrated fifteen years in the South Moravian town of Valtice: and the Interpretation courses for brass instrument celebrated ten years in Vimperk in South-West Bohemia.

Czech and Austrian friendship created through music: Musica Sacra Over the Border

For the last eight years, with the involvement of the Czech Music Society, a very special spring festival has been held. Called ‘Musica Sacra Over the Border’, it consists of a number of concerts given by church choral groups from both sides of the Czech/Moravian and Austrian border, in a different town in the border area every year. Míla Smetáčková reports this time, at the end of May and beginning of June, the festival was held in the Austrian Premonstrant Monastery of Geras. Twenty-nine Czech and Austrian choirs performed individually and, for the final concert, joined forces to perform works by Václav Karel Holan Rovenský (1644-1718) and František Ignác Tůma (1704-1774). For next year, the chosen town is Moravské Budějovice.

Live Performance Reviews

Each issue of the Newsletter includes reports of live performances. The reviews in Newsletter No.65 are summarised below.

Bělohlávek at the Barbican, London
Report by Bill Marsden
Following his triumphant Glyndebourne Tristan und Isolde, Jiří Bělohlávek conducted the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra in two concerts in the Classic FM sponsored series ‘Mostly Mozart’ on 24th and 25th July at the Barbican. The two symphonies, Haydn’s ‘Miracle‘ on the first night and Mozart’s ‘Prague’ on the second, were performed with great authority and style. In the first concert, Magdalena Kožená was in magnificent voice in arias by Mozart and Gluck, and Haydn’s Cantata Arianna a Naxos. However, the other soloists in the series—pianist Nikolai Lugansky in Mozart K466, violinist Matthew Trusler in Mozart K218 and Emma Johnson in Kramář’s Clarinet Concerto, Op. 36—were all disappointing for various reasons.

Prague Spring Impressions: by Patrick Lambert

Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen at the National Theatre, 5th May
This was a new production conducted by Bohumil Gregor and directed by the brothers Michal and Šimon Cabani. Musically Patrick though that this was fine, with Sharpears fetchingly portrayed by Maria Haan, and excellent work from Gregor and his orchestra. But he have numerous reservations about the production and staging, with the depiction of forest scenes relying excessively on gargantuan nylon tights dangling from the heavens.

Over cultivated Smetana
The performance of Má vlast (12th May) under the baton of Christian Arming, standing in for the indisposed Ondřej Kukal, was a determinedly unsentimental account, virtually stripping the score of its nationalistic significance and symbolism. Revolutionary fervour was entirely absent.

Nationalism writ large: final round of the Festival’s music competition in the violin category
Patrick heard four performances of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, two of Prokofiev’s First Concerto and two of the Sibelius, while being confined to the Rudolfinum from 4.00 to 10.30 p.m. with little more than an hour’s break! Some of the competitors showed technical mastery but lacked magic and understanding. But the Russian, Nadezhda Korshakova, the oldest of the four finalists, was gripping in the Dvořák, with an instinctive understanding of the music that lies behind the notes, its harmonic tension and direction: and her Prokofiev was even better. However, nationalism reared its ugly head when the jury awarded no first prize but instead awarded joint second to the Russian and an inferior Czech competitor Roman Patočka

Mixed Martinů cocktail: Quartet Cycle in the Simon and Jude Church
Of late, it has become a tradition for the Festival to offer a cycle of string quartets by a single composer. This year it was the turn of Martinů – all the numbered quartets with the exception of the admittedly somewhat prolix and derivative ‘French’ First Quartet. The first grouping, Nos. 3, 4 and 5, was given by the Panocha Quartet (20th May), in tired sounding and rather scratchy performances, although admittedly the dreadfully cavernous acoustic of was hardly flattering to their tone. The remaining quartets Nos. 2, 6 and 7 were given a week later at the same venue by the much fresher sounding Martinů Quartet, whose playing was worthy of the name they bear and completely restored faith in the music. As a touching encore they played, without the slightest hint of condescension, Bohuslav Martinů’s schoolboy (1903) quartet The Three Riders.

In honour of Talich
Sir Charles Mackerras’s concert with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in the Rudolfinum, to mark the 120th Anniversary of the birth of Václav Talich (22nd May), opened with a vigorous account of Janáček’s Jealousy Overture. But, Martinů’s Fourth Piano Concerto ‘Incantations’ suffered from the soloist Emil Leichner sounding wooden and heavy-handed throughout; the orchestra likewise. The best playing came after the interval in Suk’s Fantastic Scherzo and Janáček’s Taras Bulba. In the Respirium of the Rudolfinum there was a Talich exhibition, consisting of eight framed tableaux gathering together significant documents from the conductor’s life, employing an imaginative montage technique.

FOK to the fore!
Many Czech music lovers rate just the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK) just as highly as the Czech Philharmonic. The last of their subscription concerts in the Smetana Hall (29th April) included Martinů’s Fourth Symphony. The Romanian conductor Cristian Mandeal impressed by the sense of drama he brought to Beethoven’s ‘Leonora’ Overture No.3. Ivan Klánský was soloist in Chopin’s F minor Concerto.

Martinů’s good work completed
Martinů’s opera Den dobročinnosti, usually referred to in the Martinů literature as ‘La Semaine de Bonté’, would not exist without the painstaking reconstruction work of Milan Kaňák, the energetic artistic director of the South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice—see Vanda Procházka’s report in Newsletter No.64. Patrick caught a reprise performance (26th May) in the charmingly intimate little provincial theatre just off Budějovice’s famous square. It was depressing to see such enterprise rewarded by a pitiably sparse audience, but so delightful and involving was the production that one soon forgot the empty seats.

Czech Ensembles: by Geoff Piper of MusicEnterprise, Luxembourg

This is the eighth of a series of articles on Czech ensembles by Geoff Piper of MusicEnterprise Luxembourg.

Geoff writes here about the Duo Vlachová - Ericsson (violin and cello).The members are Jana Vlachová and her husband, the Swedish cellist Mikael Ericsson. Geoff gives some information about the careers of these musicians and their repertoire.

Pueri Gaudentes: by Miloš Zezula

In the whole of the Czech Republic, there are only two wholly boys’ choirs: Boni Pueri from Hradec Králové and Pueri Gaudentes from Prague. The latter, since their foundation in September 1990, have attained an outstanding reputation at home, and are now being requested to perform abroad. Choir-master Zdena Součková has succeeded in creating a compact and well-tuned musical body which is able to study, rehearse and perform such difficult and demanding compositions as, for instance, Otmar Mácha’s The Gentle Spider-Web and Emil Hradecký’s songs to biblical texts, particularly Principium sapientiae timorDomini. Other composers to have dedicated works to the choir include Petr Eben, Zdeněk Lukáš, Miroslav Raichl and Pavel Jurkovič. The article goes on to describe the personnel of the choir and its work for the State Opera , television and films and its tours abroad.

Membership News: from Tony Pook

The Membership Secretary reports that four new members have enrolled during the last quarter (three in the U.K. and one in the U.S.A).

Requests for Help

Mark Todd asks whether any member provide any further information can information on a film—Město darované: The Gift of the Town (KRÁTKÝ FILM, PRAHA)—which included extracts from Nazi propaganda film about Terezín, including Karel Ančerl conducting

From the Editor’s Postbag (and e-mail)

Kay Pechal writes about chamber music, Leamington Spa and the Panocha Quartet.

Susan Reynolds writes about her translations of czech texts including Erben’s Svatební košile (The Wedding Shirts). This inspired both Dvořák—his cantata The Spectre’s Bride—and Martinů.

David Cohen writes about BBC Radio 3’s Discovering Music programmes.

Record Service Report: by Bill Marsden

Members of the Dvořák Society find the Record Service—run by Bill Marsden—a very economic and convenient way of buying recordings, including those hard to find items on small labels.

A certain amount of stock is maintained by Bill, whilst other recordings are ordered. Each quarter, his report gives information about current news items about records and the industry, and includes the current stock list. The report in Newsletter 65 is summarised below.

Distribution News
This part of the report deals with the changes in record distribution companies and the effect on the labels that the Record Service can supply.

Dvořák Society Stock List

The first part of the list comprises the Society’s normal “trading” stock; and this itself is divided into post-1830 and pre-1830 sections (the date classifications are approximate). The post-1830 section lists 77 recordings. The composers include Bittová, Brahms, Dvořák, Eben, Goldscheider, Hurník, Janáček, Karel, Klein, Korngold, Korte, Martinů, Moyzes (M & A), Řezníček, Schulhoff, Slavický, Suk, Ullmann and Ysaÿe.

There are 72 issues listed in the pre-1830 section. The composers include Bach, Beethoven, Benda (F), Benda (J), Biber, Demantius, Dusík, Gluck, Hummel, Koželuh (J), Koželuh (L), Kramář, Michna, Mozart, Mysliveček, Pichl, Rejcha, Rössler, Schmelzer, Schubert, Stamic (J), Stamic (K), Vaňhal, Vranický and Zelenka.

Members have donated 26 CDs and these are in the second part of the list. Composers include Benda (J), Debussy, Dvořák, Gemrot, Havelka, Hummel, Husa, Kvěch, Loudová, Lukáš, Martinů, Michna, Mozart, Pärt, Prokofiev, Ravel, Richter, Tchaikovsky, Smetana, Vivaldi, Wagner and Weber.

Short Reviews of Recordings: by Members

There are 25 CDs and one DVD reviewed by society members in this issue—

CDs

Rudolf Karel: Thème et Variations, Op.13 (1910)
Pavel Haas: Suite Opus 13 (1935)
Gideon Klein: Sonate pour Piano (1943)
Viktor Ullmann: Sonate pour Piano No. 6, Op. 44 (1943)
Performed by: Francesco Lutoro (piano)
ARION ARN 68339
Reviewer: David Barton

Rosetti (Rössler): Six Harp Sonatas
Performed by: Charlotte Balzereit (harp)
Arte Nova 74321 96227 2
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Jan Josef Ignác Brentner (1689-1742): Motettes etc.
Ensemble Inégal, Adam Viktora (cond), Gabriela Eibenová (sopr) et al
Nibiru 0144-2211
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Rosetti (Rössler): Concertos for Two Horns etc.
Klaus Wallendorf, Sarah Willis (horns), Bavarian Chamber PO, Johannes Moesus
CPO 999 734-2
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Andreas Hammerschmidt: Sacred works
Weser-Renaissance Bremen, Manfred Cordes
CPO 999 846-2
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Antonín Rejcha: Lenore Prague CO, Virtuosi di Praga, Frieder Bernius, soloists
Orfeo C 244 031 A
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Voříšek: Piano Works
Radoslav Kvapil (piano)
Supraphon SU 3747-2
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Petr Eben: “Ó, milé dítky”
Children’s Choir Zvoneček, Jarmila Novenková
Digital Data Production Zvoneček 2003
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Jiří Benda: Der Dorfjahrmarkt
Soloists, Prague PO Choir, Prague CO, Josef Veselka, Hans von Benda
Supraphon SU 3737-2
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Zdeněk Lukáš: Sacred Works for Chorus
Nová Česká píseň, Zdeněk Vimr
Clarton CQ 0053-2
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Viktor Kalabis: Harpsichord Concerto, 1st Violin Concerto, 5 Romantic Love Songs, Symphonic Variations
Prague CO, Prague SO (Kalabis), CPO (Neumann), Růžičková, Škvor, Haefliger
Supraphon SU 3736-2
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Petr Eben: Laudes, Job, Hommage a Buxtehude
Hyperion CDA67194
Faust, Four Biblical Dances
Hyperion CDA67195
Hommàge à Henry Purcell, Ten Chorale Preludes, Moment d’Organo, Kleine Choral partita, Versetti, Due preludi festivi, Mutationes
Hyperion CDA 67196
All performed by Halgeir Schiager (organ)
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Petr Eben: Faust, Mutationes
Motette CD 12911
Job
Motette CD 12921
All performed by Gunther Rost (organ)
Reviewer: Peter Herbert

Haas & Krása: String Quartets, etc.
Performed by: Kocian Quartet, Růžičková, Czech Soloists
Praga 350 009 (2CDs)
Reviewer: Bill Marsden

Klein: Trio, Duo for Violin & Cello
Krása: Dance (Tanec), Passacaglia and Fugue
Schulhoff: Duo for Violin & Cello, Solo Violin Sonata
Performed by: Hope (violin), Dukes (viola), Watkins (cello)
Nimbus NI 5702-2
Reviewer: Bill Marsden

Koželuh: Sinfonia Concertante in E flat, Symphony in A
Performed by: Kurpfälzisches Chamber Orchestra, Malát
RBM 463 076
Reviewer: Bill Marsden

Stamitz, C.: Duos for Violin and Cello, Op. 19
Performed by: Muroya (violin), Reith (cello)
RBM 463 007
Reviewer: Bill Marsden

Novák: Cello Sonata, Op.68
Kodály: Sonata for Solo Cello Op 8 and Sonata for Cello and Piano Op 4
Performed by: Jiří Bárta, cello and Jan Čech, piano
SUPRAPHON SU 3515-2 131
Reviewer: Mark Todd

Smetana: The Bartered Bride (extracts in English)
Performed by: Soloists, Sadler’s Wells Opera, James Lockhart
EMI CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE 7243 5 85010 2 5
Reviewer: Mark Todd

Sir Thomas Beecham: two disc set includes live performance in Queen’s Hall of—
Dvořák: Symphony No 5 in F major
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham
SYMPOSIUM 1096-1097
Reviewer: Mark Todd

The Best of Sir Henry J.Wood: two disc set including rehearsal extract and full performance of—
Dvořák: Symphonic Variations
Queen’s Hall Orchestra/Sir Henry Wood
DUTTON 2CDAX 2002
Reviewer: Mark Todd

Sylvie Bodorová: Terezín Ghetto Requiem for Baritone and String Quartet; Concierto de Estío for Guitar and String Quartet
Ronald Stevenson: String Quartet Voces vagabundae
Performed by: Nigel Cliffe (baritone), María Isabel Siewers (guitar), Martino Quartet
ARCO DIVA UP 0052-2 131
Reviewer: Jonathan Woolf

DVDs

Estranged Passengers: In Search of Viktor Ullmann
Performed by: Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra/Conlon
Capriccio 92 008 (Import)
Reviewer: Bill Marsden

Record News from Prague: by Graham Melville-Mason

Graham Melville-Mason’s regular report of record news includes both new recordings and reissues.

The report, which is by no means limited to Supraphon (although as one would expect, issues from that label tend to dominate), is a valuable source of information to members about releases which might otherwise be overlooked, particularly those on small labels. But in fact on this occasion all the releases mentioned are Supraphon issues.

July: nine issues. These are Volumes 19 – 24 of the Ančerl ‘Gold’ Edition (SU 3679 Dvořák Symphony No.6 etc; SU 3680 Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 with Richter and other works; SU 3681 Vycpálek: Czech Requiem & Mácha: Variations on a Theme and on the Death of Jan Rychlík; SU 3682 Bartók: Violin Concerto No.2 with Gertler & Piano Concerto No.3 with Bernáthová; SU 3683 Shostakovich: Symphony No.7; and SU 3684 Janáček: Sinfonietta & Martinů: Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca plus Parables) SU 3737 Benda, J.A.:Opera:Vesnický trh (Der Dorfjahrmarkt) cond. Benda: SU 3741 Brixi: Organ Concertos performed by Heřmanová: and SU 5453 Karev Yom (Jewish Ceremonial Chants) performed Kateryna Kolcová.

August: seven issues. These are SU 3515 (Novák: Violoncello Sonata Op.68 & Kodály: Works for violoncello performed Bárta/Čech): SU 3740 (Smetana: String Quartets Nos.1 & 2 Škampa Quartet): SU 3742 (Martinů: Suite from Julietta H.253a, Suite from Divadlo za bránou H.251a, Suite from Veselohra na mostu H.247a, Le Depart H.175a, and Saltarello from Mirandolina H.346a performed Czech PO/Neumann & Brno State PO/Jílek): SU 3743 (Martinů: Overture H.345, Rhapsody H.171, Sinfonia concertante H.219, Concerto grosso H.263 and Parables H.367 Czech PO/Bělohlávek), SU 3744 (Novák: Piano Works performed Rauch), SU 3746 (Schubert: Quartets Nos. 10, 12,13 & 15 Panocha Quartet) and SU 3747 (Voříšek: Piano Works performed Kvapil).

CDs of Czech and Slovak Music on Non-Czech/Slovak Labels

For members, this regular item is a valuable supplement to Record News from Prague. There is no room in a summary to list all the 81 new releases and reissues noted in this edition of the full member’s Newsletter. They include performances by many Czech and Slovak artists on labels both small and large as well as legendary performers from the past. Two examples of the latter—on CDK (Regis) there is a recording of Oistrakh performing the Dvořák and Brahms Violin Concertos with the USSR SO conducted by Kondrashin while on Orfeo you can hear Kubelík and the Bavarian Radio SO performing Dvořák’s Symphonies 7 & 8.

Library Report: by Vera Marsden

This section of the Newsletter regularly keeps Members up to date on additions to the Dvořák Society’s large library of recordings, scores, videos, books and other publications.

25 years ago …

This regular item briefly recalls the issues and events of concern to Society members a quarter of a century ago.

In that distant October Janáček was in the forefront of Society thoughts (just as he is today), as we were helping to promote Jan Latham-Koenig’s three concerts with the Koenig Ensemble in the Purcell Room to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the death of that composer. At the same time Ian Horsburgh was busy preparing an Exhibition to commemorate the Janáček anniversary at the Festival Hall’s River Terrace: and several members, including Dr John Clapham and Dr John Tyrrell, were to attend the special Janáček Festival and Musicological Colloquium in Brno. Charles Mackerras (who had not been then knighted) was to conduct a new production of The Excursions of Mr Brouček the London Coliseum. All this was going on without forgetting Dvořák whose opera Dimitrij was to be performed in January and February 1979 by Nottingham University Opera Group.

Diary

The regular Diary section of the Newsletter gives details of performances and other events that are scheduled for the next few months. The Diary is in two parts, British and Overseas. This issue lists 158 British and 152 Overseas events. Events range all the way from large-scale opera and symphonic performances to solo recitals, taking in such diverse activities as touring choirs, chamber music and study weekends.   www.dvorak-society.org