Antonin Dvorak Concertos.

Antonin Dvorak Concertos Cello Concerto in B minor op. 104, Piano Concerto in G minor op. 33, Violin Concerto in A minor op. 53, Romance in F minor for Violin and Orchestra op. 11, Rondo for Cello and Orchestra op. 94, Mazurka for Violin and Orchestra in E minor op. 49, Forest Calm for Cello and Orchestra op. 68

Zara Nelsova--cello, Rudolf Firkusny--piano, Ruggiero Ricci--violin, Saint-Louis Symphony Orchestra, Walter Susskind--conductor.

Text: Ger., Eng. Recorded: 1974, 1975. Released: 2006 (licence VOX Records for Membran Music). TF: 73:51, 55:51. ADD Stereo. 2 CD Membran Music.

This double album of Dvorak instrumental concertos at first sight looks like just another gift set, but thanks to the names of violinist Ruggiero Ricci and pianist Rudolf Firkusny it will also interest the more exacting listener. And also the name of the conductor should catch the listener's eye. In the Czech Republic Firkusny, as a Czech emigrant, still seems to suffer hard luck here in terms of available recordings and titles. Here people tend to encounter them just by chance on some unknown label and are then surprised by how good they are. His interpretation of the Piano Concerto in G minor is refined, subtle and vibrantly musical. And it is precisely this cultivated musician, identified with Czech music in heart and soul, that we had the chance to hear at the beginning of the 1990s after his return from emigration. In the Violin Concerto in A minor, the world famous violinist proves worthy of his fame and plays Dvorak with a beautiful tone. In many passage the listener will be enchanted by his mature conception and performance ideas. The cellist Zara Nelsova, a respected soloist and teacher born in Canada who taught at the Juilliard School, is a comparative unknown. In the world-class competition on the CD her interpretation of the cello concerto sounds careful, soft and very sensitive. There are stronger versions, but this one is engaging and stands the test. The richness and genius of the score is of course an advantage for the performer. If we compare these three Dvorak instrumental concertos in terms of popularity, the cello concerto, which is played and loved by all the world-class players, emerges with a clear lead. It is followed at some distance by the violin concerto, chosen only by some, and in third place in terms of interest and appeal comes the piano concerto, which demands from musicians a special attitude and an exceptional amount of artistic input if listeners are to go on listening right through to the end. The advantage of the CD set is that these two less immediately listener-friendly pieces are performed by major names on the music scene.

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Apart from the concertos, from the violin repertoire the double album contains the Romance in F minor and the technically difficult, superb Mazurka in E minor, and for the cello the Rondo in G minor and Forest Calm--and this is a great enrichment. The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra plays tolerably and the conductor Walter Susskind (1913-1980) has an unusual feeling for Dvorak's melodies and structure. This is no accident. Susskind was born in Prague, where he studied composition with Suk and K. Haba, played in the Czech Trio and worked with Georg Szell at the New German Theatre. He left for London in 1938 and made a significant international reputation. The artistically pretty jacket and the booklet correspond to the gift set image, and the text section gives quite detailed information about the pieces, but it is a pity that it says not a word about the performers and the circumstances of the recording in 1974 and 1975. Yet with often recorded pieces it is the performer on which the most depends, and behind at least two of these stands a very interesting piece of history for Czech listeners. Nonetheless, in the flood of re-editions there are already more than enough reasons to go for this album.