September 24, 2014

  • Viva la Viola!

     

    Martinu/Stamitz/Lukas
    Prague Chamber Orchestra/Jitka Hosprova, violin
    Arcodiva 0073-2 131
    Total Time:  69:33
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Music by three Czech composers is the focus of this new release by Czech violist Jitka Hosprova.  She has been an active in concerts throughout the world for the past decade or so and plays a 1792 viola by Gaspar Strnad.  This new recording includes two standard pieces of viola repertoire and a newer work as well making for an interesting program.

    Bohuslav Martinu’s (1890-1959) beautiful Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra was composed in 1952 and opens to the disc.  The piece was commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra’s violist Jascha Weissi and performed there the following year under George Szell.  We hear in this work a more romantic style of writing with some of the classical poise that informs Martinu’s previous work and its Neo-Classical/Baroque leanings.  It includes melodic ideas that feel almost folk-like.  The interplay between soloist and orchestra allows for these lighter elements to appear very well.  Sometimes the openness of the harmonic writing sounds almost Copland-esque.  Whether this is just a simple coincidence is hard to say.  Martinu was at this point sure he would never return to his homeland and may have infused the work with touches of American experience, especially in the first movement.  The second movement begins with a bit more chromaticism and slowly blossoms outward from this intense opening.  The Rhapsody remains one of his easily accessible works with wonderful lyric writing and great orchestral color.  Hosprova’s performance is a superb one with warm lyrical playing and great energy when things begin to pick up more in the second movement.

    The music of Zdenek Lukas (b. 1928) is perhaps better known to fans of choral music, his most-performed output, and an important Requiem setting.  His blend of diatonic and modal harmonies makes his style stand out a bit from the various musical aesthetic movements of the latter 20th Century.    His Viola Concerto was composed in 1983.  This is a well-balanced concerto featuring three movements of fairly equal length and scope.  The first movement, “Rapsodico”, opens with a burst of energy that will become an important underlying component to contrast with a folk-like lyrical melody taken over by the soloist and then intensely developed.  The music moves through spurts of dissonance to almost Romantic, film-llike, segments.  The dramatic quality of the music makes the sudden shifts in tone work very well.  The solo line often creates a solitary connective voice between these disparate spurts of sound from the orchestra.  There are some gorgeous orchestral doublings here with winds and viola.  Most interesting as well are sudden dense chords that blossom out into diatonic harmonies and back again.  The “Cantabile” second movement continues with this laying out of beautiful lyrical melodies with scurrying dense trills and more intense harmonies darkening the music on occasion.   The brass enter in chorale-like passages.  The viola picks up these ideas and adds a great intensity at times, but it is the lyrical writing that really engages the listener in this movement.  “Ben Ritmico” moves us into a more contemporary rhythmic movement with somewhat more angular writing in the solo line as it begins.  This is an opportunity for more virtuosic displays as the orchestra bubbles underneath.

    The composers at the Mannheim court were among the finest in the 18th Century and their innovative work would be carried into what would become Classical style in the period.  Most notably, their music impressed a young Mozart who would further enhance their compositional techniques within his own works.  It was Carl Stamitz’s (1745-1780) father Johann (Jan) who would be one of the arbiters of the “Mannheim School” sound.  His son, Carl, had the misfortune perhaps of being born at the wrong time as world events and musical ones were beginning to rock established court orchestras.  He was a noted violinist and equally adept at viola and viola d’amore.  In 1770 he proceeded on a concert tour in Paris and subsequently Europe.  Both his virtuosic skill and Mannheim experience inform his Concerto for Viola composed in 1774.  Considered a staple in viola repertoire, the piece is a brilliant example of the period’s style and approach and a marker of Carl Stamitz’s own capability as a composer.  Some of this comes across in the extended central movement cadenza.  The amazing technical speed required in the final movement is also breathtakingly performed.  It makes for a delightful ending to the CD with a wonderful period contrast.

    Hosprova tends to focus on music of the 20th and 21st centuries so her inclusion of the Stamitz is a nice departure.  Her playing is superb and flawless with excellent tone that carries through virtuosic speedier passages.  The Prague orchestra is also on brilliant display here as well perfectly matching her interpretations along the way.  Imaging between soloist and orchestra is also well balanced.  The delight here is in discovering the newer Lukas work but a wonderful performance of the Stamitz and Martinu to bookend the lesser known work make this a great way to discover these pieces.  The 2005 recording is now making its way to greater distribution outside of Europe and will likely be one to seek out.