August 18, 2014

  • Fibich Symphonic Poems

     

    Fibich: Symphonic Poems (Orchestral Works, volume 3)
    Czech National Symphony Orchestra/Marek Stilec
    Naxos 8.573197
    Total Time:  72:27
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Though the previous two Fibich releases passed under the radar, I felt it was time to shed a little light on this lesser known Czech composer.  Zdenik Fibich (1850-1900) was a somewhat popular nationalist composer at the close of the 19th century.  His music was even conducted often by compatriot Bedrich Smetana.  The music of Dvorak tended to strike a more international breakthrough though often overshadowing these other composer’s work.  Fibich is mostly known by a single work, a “Poem”, often arranged for salon music performances and in plenty of classic piano literature books.  The piece does provide one window into the composer’s gift for melody and harmonic language.  What makes this new Naxos release interesting is its  focus on the symphonic poem.  Over the course of five works, the CD is a sampler of subject matter for this new 19th-century musical form.

    The works chosen for this release span that interesting decade of the 1870s to around 1881 when many composers were creating what would become standard repertoire.  Though over the years some works from this time have made it into the general repertoire: Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole; Grieg’s Peer Gynt; Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony; Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto—to name a few.   Certainly a couple of the works on this disc should enter that list as examples of the period.  Lest we get ahead of ourselves, the final pages of Wagner’s Ring were still in progress.  The style then fits much better to the developing late period orchestral style closer to Liszt perhaps.  The works here connect to the cult of Shakespeare (Othello; The Tempest), nationalism (Zaboj, Slavoj, and Ludek), interest in supernatural mythological subjects (Toman and the Wood Nymph), and evocation of nature (Spring).  Fibich’s musical language is not yet adapting folk music and rhythms to the extent that we hear in Dvorak, or even Smetana.  The program opens with Othello, Op. 6.

    First performed in Prague in 1873 under Bedirch Smetana, the piece opens with great trumpet fanfares that will provide one particular unifying thread.  A bit of darkness is added to the ending phrase here with a good use of low brass before a beautiful lyrical idea appears.  The romantic melody is delicately scored for harp and oboe with additional wind colors.  The music is gorgeous here suggesting the relationship of Othello and Desdemona with hints at the problems hovering at the edges.  Things do heat up as the piece moves towards the final few minutes, the middle does seem to bog down a bit—a problem of the form perhaps when these pieces extend beyond 10 minutes or so.  The pulsing romanticism is what we are left with as the piece has one last horrible climax before dying away.  In this respect, the piece does a very good job of creating a thumbnail musical program for this classic story.  The ending is rather sudden though without a lot of pretentious cadences.

    Bedrich Smetana was quite impressed by Fibich’s Zaboj, Slavoy, and Ludek, Op. 37 upon hearing its performance in 1875.  It was enough to inspire his own musical exploration of nationalism in Ma Vlast which he would shortly begin work on.  The source for inspiration here is the Dvur Kralove manuscript, a somewhat suspect document that came to light in 1817 and was used to inspire Czech’s to embrace their own culture over that of the dominant Hapsburg empire.  The spurious document (later deemed a forgery) was “discovered by Vaclav Hanka.  Two great Renaissance heroes of Czech culture, Zaboj and Slavoy are thus the subjects of the first portion of this early Czech nationalist symphonic poem (supposedly the first dedicated to Czech subject matter).  The piece plays like a historical drama with a sort of grandeur of energy suggesting battle and overcoming great odds that appears in the big climaxes especially, often written in orchestral unisons.  The dramatic thrust of this work is actually quite exciting at times playing out very well as a narrative orchestral piece upon which one can certainly imagine martial forces amassing and great battles taking place with victorious moments and subtle times of character development.  Things are held together well thematically as well.  (Admittedly, this piece reminded me of early historical film music of the 1930s and Korngold in particular oddly enough!)  At nearly 18 minutes, this is the longest of the works on the album and actually is quite interesting.  Some sections may seem a bit repetitive for today’s taste, but it is a well-constructed and exciting piece worthy of more attention.  The orchestra here does seem to be stretched a bit by the demands of the work at times with minor intonation that has to do with tuning across the large forces needed.  This is not necessarily a performance issue, but one of extreme registers of instruments.  The piece is perhaps the most Lisztian.  Admittedly, the final minute or so needs something more.  Though, what is discovered here is that Fibich is creating an arching form to these pieces that move through themes build to several smaller climaxes and then fade off as a narrator concludes the story.  In that context, they are quite effective.

    From the same year, Toman and the Wood Nymph, Op. 49, is a lesser-known tale of Czech origin focusing on a youth rejected by his love only to fall into the embrace of a wood nymph.  It is a subject that was the basis for a later Czech tone poem by Viktor Novak.  There is a nice horn motif here providing some hunting horn motifs for Toman that will become a significant thematic thread developed in this piece.  The music here is delightfully orchestrated with pulsing winds and various layers of orchestral writing coming together for hymn-like chorales with full brass and strings.  The piece is a rather exciting little symphonic poem with engaging thematic writing and good narrative flow.  It is very interesting to hear how the ideas move up to new key areas as well.  The magical segments are brilliantly orchestrated feeling almost like ballet music.

    Tchaikovsky composed his own symphonic poem on Shakespeare’s The Tempest in 1873 and American composer John Knowles Paine likewise in 1877.  Fibich’s work follows these in 1880 and precedes his operatic treatment to come in the 1890s.  Here we get a brief overview of the story from storm to shipwreck to the idyllic bliss of the characters coming together before storms return to bring the work to a tumultuous conclusion.  An ardent central theme is beautifully yearning and romantic.  The piece has some excellent musical painting with skittering strings and plenty of storm tropes that fans of the period will revel in throughout this work.  We do get some fairly standard cadences here to close the work out, which oddly make this a rather exciting piece.  Now there would be an interesting CD pairing these different approaches to this one Shakespearean tale!

    The evocation of Spring, Op. 13 is the subject of this final work on the program first performed in 1881.  The sun seems to rise gently here with a clarinet melody that has a folk song feel.  In this work we get a better feel for folk dance and song interspersed in this musical depiction of the season.  This is perhaps the most “Czech” feeling music of the pieces here almost reveling in bucolic musical depictions with wonderful orchestral color.  The piece is the closest to the style of Czech nationalist infusions that Dvorak was applying in his symphonies of this period.  The result is a wonderful little work with wonderful thematic ideas and development.

    Fibich’s symphonic poems are excellent examples of composers adapting this new form.  The narrative ability is quite excellent and familiarity will breed greater appreciation for the dramatic music on display here.  The filmic quality of the music will appeal to many listeners willing to let the story flow over them musically.  The performances are quite good and committed.  Sometimes the recording feels very dry acoustically revealing the studio recording over that of a concert hall ambient recording.  It makes for some unusual miking of solo ideas sometimes to help bring them out.  Occasional intonation issues, just slightly off in brass, occur but fortunately are not distracting.  Strings sometimes too weave a bit off track as they make their way through some of the higher register runs.  Stilec manages to shape these works well giving them good flow and never languishing.  It makes for often exciting music that certainly makes one want to explore Fibich’s music more.  Overall, a well chosen program makes for an excellent addition to anyone’s music library.  I can certainly see ways educators could use this disc to help explore the symphonic poem and subject matter of the 19th Century.  Highly recommended.