Label Praga

The Czech Philharmonic is the leading symphonic ensemble in the musically rich Czech Republic, with a long history of definitive performances and recordings of Czech repertory. The orchestra has sometimes found itself a topic of political contention as the waves of European history have swept across its homeland. Like many other Central European orchestras, the Czech Philharmonic (the Czech name since 2015 is Česká filharmonie, and the word "orchestra" is no longer part of its name) began as a theater orchestra: a group of orchestral musicians at the Prague National Theatre named themselves the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1894, and in two years, the wisdom of the move became apparent when Dvořák conducted the group in a concert of his own works. By 1901, the Philharmonic was a fully independent entity, and it quickly gained renown beyond Czech borders; Mahler conducted the orchestra in the world premiere of his Symphony No. 7 in 1908. The most important among the orchestra's early conductors was Vaclav Talich, who held the post of principal conductor for most of the period between 1919 and 1941.

The Prazák Quartet has long distinguished itself with its passionate, nationalistic interpretations of late Romantic composers such as Dvorák, Smetana, and Janácek, as well as insightful and precision playing of composers from the Second Viennese School such as Schoenberg, Webern, and Bern. That this ensemble produces successful, enjoyable recordings of string quartets of the aforementioned composers is not now in question. What is questionable is whether or not the same approach the Prazák uses for Janácek or Schoenberg will produce a convincing recording of the Mozart "Haydn" quartets, and the answer is no. The ensemble's sound throughout this recording is simply too sparse and piercing, particularly in the first violin. The viola and cello sound quite nasal and strained. Much of the time, the approach to the instruments is exceedingly forceful and harsh. When the musicians do finally get around to trying to produce a piano dynamic, their sound appears out of breath, almost as if they have difficulty maintaining contact with the string while playing softly. The superior audio fidelity of this SACD release only heightens listeners' awareness of these shortcomings in sound quality. Gone are traces of elegance, gracefulness, or decorum that many listeners will find intrinsic in enjoyable performances of Mozart.

Contrairement à son titre, le sextuor Souvenir de Florence de Tchaikovski, composé en 1890, doit davantage à la tradition russe qu’à l’école italienne. Très contrasté, incroyablement exigeant pour les interprètes et d’une grande intensité, il constitue l’une des pierres angulaires du répertoire. Moins d’une dizaine d’années plus tard, Schönberg compose un autre monument du sextuor à cordes, dont la vigueur n’a probablement rien à envier à celui de Tchaikovski : La Nuit transfigurée, inspirée du poème de Robert Dehmel, pousse l’expression romantique à son paroxysme dans un tableau musical noir et fiévreux.Héritier des grands interprètes russes, le Oistrakh Quartet est chez lui dans ces deux chefs-d'œuvre, qu’il enregistre en compagnie de l’altiste Daniel Austrich et du violoncelliste Alexander Buzlov.

Son of a weaver (1722), trained by the Jesuits then abruptly summoned to the Court of the King of Prussia (1745), Jiří Antonín Benda stood out as a master of the melodrama and the Singspiel. He left a large oeuvre for keyboard (17 sonata, 34 sonatinas), which take over the Baroque heritage of the Bach family, especially the ‘Hamburg and Berlin Bach’, Carl Philip Emanuel, then the Classical style, thereby providing an example as much to Mozart as to Haydn or Beethoven. Initially enamoured of Empfindsamkeit (sensitivity), he decanted his style to write, in his lonely final years, sonatas that were more appreciated than Haydn’s and sufficiently innovative to interest the young Beethoven.

Il a traversé le monde de la musique comme un météore, un flambeur. Excessif en tout, il a brûlé sa vie par tous les bouts. Son éternelle cigarette à la bouche symbolisait parfaitement le feu qui habitait cet homme passionné par le jazz et par le monde interlope de la nuit. Né en 1924 à Francfort, d’un père français et d’une mère alsacienne follement romanesque, puis balloté de ville en ville durant son enfance et son adolescence, ce grand sensible était un écorché vif, un romantique à l’humeur fantasque et souvent imprévisible. Admirateur d’Arthur Rimbaud et d’André Breton, il en avait aussi les fulgurances.

Slávka Pechocová Pianist Pechocová's graduate thesis was on the music of Janácek, but her performances cover a wide range of solo and chamber music.

Playing host to an ad hoc group of musicians, the Prazák Quartet presents two of Arnold Schoenberg's classic works in a program that coheres most effectively. The pairing of the expressionist melodrama Pierrot lunaire and the angular, twelve-tone Suite requires the addition of a female vocalist, flute doubling on piccolo, two clarinets, a bass clarinet, and a piano to the Prazák's members, so this is a practical match-up for a concert, provided the players are available. Soprano Alda Caiello delivers the sprechstimme of Pierrot lunaire with a variety of expressions that sort with the bizarre moods and characters in the songs, and her delivery is theatrical, intense, and disturbing in its edginess. The instrumentalists are obviously at home in Schoenberg's music, so the complexities of Pierrot's tense accompaniment and the pungent counterpoint of the Suite come off with apparent ease. The recording space is quite spacious and reverberant, so this takes some of the harshness off Schoenberg's dissonances, and the roominess of the sound provides a great deal of separation, so the players can be differentiated with little difficulty. This may not be the best choice for listeners who like dry textures and crisp definition in these pieces, but that preference should take nothing away from the merits of this album.

Pierre Monteux had one of the longest active careers as a conductor, probably exceeded among famous musicians by Pablo Casals and Leopold Stokowski. He retained a youthful appearance with black hair (although his mustache was white), and was expressed by any suggestion that the color was not natural. He said anyone who said otherwise was welcome to come with shampoo, alcohol, or whatever to wash his hair and prove the color was natural. "Also you might mention that I have all my teeth," he added. This story also illustrates his sense of humor and genial nature. It is often stated that the man made no enemies, or even that he was loved by all.

The Párkányi Quartet, which worked with Sándor Végh in Budapest, has waited 30 years before giving us its vision of this summit of 20th-century quartet literature, the central diptych of the six String Quartets. It is coupled with the last Quartet, also inspired by the land, of an overly-neglected Hungarian and childhood friend of Bartók: the ethnologist and dramatist Leo Weiner.

Recordings of Mendelssohn's string quartets had become plentiful by the last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty first, but recordings of the German Romantic's string quintets remained relatively rare, so this splendid 2009 Supraphon release of his A major String Quintet, including its original second movement, coupled with his E flat major String Quartet, will be welcomed by the composer's advocates and enthusiasts.