Antonin Dvorak.

Antonin Dvorak

Czech Suite in D Major, op. 39, Polonaise in E Flat major B 100, Waltzes op. 54

The Prague Chamber Philharmonic, Jakub Hrusa. Production: Petr Vit. Text: Eng., Ger., French, Czech. Recorded: 10/2005, Studio Domovina, Prague. Published: 2006. TT: 55:10. DDD. 1 CD Supraphon SU 3867-2. Alternative: Czech Suite--Pesek, (Virgin), Prague Chamber Orchestra, Vlcek; Vlach (Supraphon), Polonaise in E Flat major--Neumann, Czech Philharmonic (Orfeo), Polonaises and Waltzes--Belohlavek, FOK (Supraphon).

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The recording debuts of Czech conductors are frequently relatively late, and in the same way the managements of our music institutions are very cautious when it comes to appointing principal conductors from the younger generation. Let it therefore be said that here we have an exception! Last year the twenty-five-year-old Jakub Hrusa (see the interview in this issue) became the principal conductor of the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic in Zlin and the principal conductor of the Prague Chamber Philharmonic. He is the assistant to Myung-Whun Chung at the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, with which he gives concerts. Hrusa has already conducted many of Czech orchestras including the Czech Philharmonic. At two musically outstanding concerts with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra he showed that he is now a remarkable and highly promising conductor: given his age, he gave what was a surprisingly considered and mature interpretation of Josef Suk's Asrael at his graduation concert at Prague's Academy of Music (AMU) in 2004 and also made a successful appearance at the Prague Spring last year. His debut album with Supraphon is thus very timely. The oldest and best known Czech recording company entrusted with minor works by Antonin Dvorak, but this definitely didn't make his task easier, for these are very famous pieces--especially the Czech Suite and the Polonaise in E Flat major, which are evergreens on concert podia and the subject of many older recordings inviting tough comparisons. Apart from these pieces the CD includes the complete Waltzes in Jarmil Burghauser's instrumentation. Looking at the contents of the CD one cannot but remember the Supraphon record made twenty years ago (the music was the same except for the Czech Suite), with Hrusa's teacher Jiri Belohlavek conducting the Prague FOK Symphony Orchestra. Jakub Hrusa, however, was given the Prague Chamber Philharmonic, with which a conductor has to work in an entirely different way than with a large orchestra. He knows this very well, since even in this specific area he has often co-operated with this first rate ensemble and is entirely at home with them. In contrast to the traditional recordings here we can savour the sensitively elaborated details and pleasantly colourful sound of the different instrumental groups. One factor that also helps in this context is the choice of the Domovina studio rather than the Rudolfinum more often used in these cases. The musical director and sound master have also done an excellent job. In this chamber version the Polonaise sounds delightful and the accompaniment voices, easily lost to the ear in the symphonic current, are wonderfully audible. When we listen to the entire cycle of the eight Waltzes, better known in the original piano version, the question of their instrumentation by another composer inevitably arises again. Despite all Jarmil Burghauser's best efforts to ensure the maximum authenticity, we cannot help feeling that we are in a different, albeit not a distant world. Dvorak himself instrumented only two waltzes (nos. 1 and 4) and then only for string ensemble, where the result is much more poetic and closer to the original chamber sound. One example might be the entirely different conception of the middle section of the 1st Waltz. Jakub Hrusa's interpretation of the cycle is highly inventive and in some sections the results are very charming, for example the colourful instrumental cascade at the return to the reprise in the 1st Waltz, or the colourful play at the beginning of the 4th Waltz or the very ingenious expression in the 6th Waltz, which in this instrumentation is probably the closest to the Dvorakian world. The Czech Suite was written by the composer for a small orchestra and this recording fully respects the fact. I see a problem in the tempi of the Polka and Furiant. They are too fast! The entrancing main theme of the polka thus becomes ordinary to the point of lacking poetry, and the trio is more a rather hasty episode than a sweet trifle. And the furiant, although significantly artistically stylised, tends to lose its original identity. At such a tempo is it a long way from the original rhythmically arousing even demonic passages. Incidentally, not even the best dancer would be able to cope with the basic dance figures at this speed. But it should be said that even Hrusa's much more experienced colleagues present the furiant in this kind of insensitive way, without regard for its original identity. Yet that is perhaps my only reservation. The beautiful Romance, sweetlygenial Sousedska and lyrically delicate introductory Prelude in fact in many respects improve on the older genial Sousedska and lyrically delicate introductory Prelude in fact in many respects improve on the older recordings of The Czech Suite.