Bohuslav Martinu: Violin Concerto no. 1.

Bohuslav Martinu

Violin Concerto no. 1* Violin Concerto no. 2** Rhapsody-Concerto***

Josef Suk--violin, Czech Philharmonic, Vaclav Neumann--conductor. Text: Eng., Ger., Fr., Cz. Recorded: *1973, ** 1973, *** 1987, Rudolfinum, Prague. Released: re-edition 2009. TT: 72:46. AAD(DDD ***) Stereo. I CD Supraphon Music SU 3967/2. Alternative: Bohuslav Matousek, Ceska filharmonie, Christopher Hogwood (Hyperion).

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Bohuslav Martinu's concertos are performed by a number of brilliant violinists (Zenaty, Novotny, Zimmermann, Faust, Keulen and others), but only in the case of two have I had the irresistable subjective feeling that this is the real Martinu. These are Josef Suk and Bohuslav Matousek, a generation younger. Supraphon celebrated the eightieth birthday of the legendary Suk with several projects, but this re-edition strikes me as the most distinctive and representative. Josef Suk kept coming back to both the Martinu concertos over several decades, each time exploring them in depth. He even performed the 1st Concerto H. 226 40 years after it was written (!) at its world premiere with the Chicage Symphony Orchestra and conductor George Solti. He recorded it for Supraphon soon after--a project that reflects quite an enlightened policy on the part of the firm. Unfortunately I don't know hew the concerto sounded as conducted by Solti, but it may well not have been so far from the interpretation by Vaclav Neumann, whose creative powers were at their height in the 1970s. The Czech Philharmonic was in wonderful form, all the solos sound briiliant, and the musical direction of the recordings was also excellent (Eduard Herzog--concertos, Pavel KQhn--rhapsody). All the slow movements are superb, and the tempos of the first and last movements are more conservative than aggressive, which only brings out the composer's musical message. Josef Suk does not renounce his tremendous virtuosity in the concertos, but it is clear that this is not the basis of his poetics as a musician. The recording of Rhapsody-Concerto was made at a time when Josef Suk had already begun to make a major name as a violist as well as violinist, both in solo and in chamber play (see concerts at the Prague Spring and his work with the Smetana Quartet, for example). On this instrument too he could apply his extraordinary tone dispositions to allow full rein to the musical idiom typical of Martinu. It is regrettable that Supraphone has made one schoolboy mistake on so exceptional a CD. On page 4 of the booklet I read that I would find the Rhapsody-Concerto for Violin and Orchestra on the album! But perhaps I was just unlucky and my review copy was from the first run, which the firm withdrew from sales. In any case it is only a small example of human imperfection.

Lubos Stehlik