June 1, 2018

  • Rare Festive Smetana

     

    Smetana: Festive Symphony
    Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra/Darrell Ang
    Naxos 8.573672
    Total Time:  63:58
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    As the boundaries of Europe began to begin defining themselves even more so by their national heritages, composers began to meld their local melodic and rhythmic flair into more international models.  Czech music in particular seems to always be at the forefront of historical examples where this begins to take root both nationally and politically.  The first of the Czech composers to begin to move on the more international stage was Biedrich Smetana (1824-1884).  Today his familiarity to music lovers rests on “The Moldau”, a moving tone poem from his collection of symphonic poems Ma Vlast, and on one of the few Czech operas to remain in the mainstream of opera companies, The Bartered Bride.  Smetana showed early promise as a musician, but some nine years would pass before he would be able to go to Prague to study music more formally.  During this brief period, he began writing music for friends and had the opportunity to see Liszt (in 1840).  By 1848, he was able to return to the city and began work to establish a music school.  This was an important year of political and nationalist tensions and this would tug at his own patriotism.  The new Emperor, Franz Joseph, was looked to hopefully provide the same sense of freedom to Czechoslovakia that he had given to Hungary.  His marriage to Elisabeth of Bavaria encouraged Smetana to write a festive work to celebrate the occasion, to some extent.

    The Festive Symphony in E, Op. 6 (1853-54) is Smetana’s only essay in the genre.  The work was first performed in 1855 with mild success as part of an overlong concert.  The main issue that ended up hampering performances was that Smetana, with his hope for a Bohemian-friendly monarch, had imbued the work with the Austrian Imperial Anthem.  The theme appears in a full statement early in the first movement which otherwise is uneventful.  In the somewhat overlong “Largo maestoso”, Smetana uses it in a more elongated form.  This particular movement is certainly a very early example of the sort of style that would evolve into his more familiar Ma Vlast.  Both movements feature some rather interesting wind writing though which provides some nice color.  These tend to pop out as well since the recording brings these solos forward in the sound picture.  The lighter “Scherzo” does not feature the theme and has a gentle galloping rhythm.  Sometimes there seems to be a sense of Czech rhythmic syncopation, but this is pretty light.  The second half of the movement brings this out slightly more.  The third movement was the only one Smetana would program later in the century.  The final movement has that same sort of pomp and majesty including a fugal section that is somewhat impressive but needs to build more.  The music manages to keep this sense of bubbling excitement and glory as it progresses.  Little sections are shared between winds, brass, and strings here which provides different color moving toward the big arrival points.  The symphony itself is a curiosity of mid-century symphonic writing in that seeming Neverland of orchestral music that tends to be ignored apart from Liszt’s symphonic poems.  Smetana’s language here is not quite as chromatic as will become the norm in a few decades.  It tends to stick to its inherited Germanic models.  Perhaps this is where the symphony itself is the answer to why Smetana did not return to this structure as the individual movements do tend to feel more episodic with repetition tending to be somewhat varied as it moves along.  A final grand statement of the anthem brings the work to a close.  Herein then also lies one of the works structural problems in that it really needs a less pompous finale, but as a piece d’occasion it does exactly what it should do and should not be faulted for this perhaps.  Otherwise, there is a lot of great orchestral writing here that gives those who want to explore mid-century music to hear this early work.

    The second part of the disc includes four selections from Smetana’s The Bartered Bride.  The wonderful overture kicks off the selections which include a dance from each act: the Act I polka, the furiant from Act II, and the “Dance of the Comedians” from the circus act appearing in Act III.  Ang’s performances sparkle well here at a good clip.  String balance for the scurrying opening works quite well, though the bass entry is expectedly muddier.  Again the winds acquit themselves equally well in the performance.  Accents and syncopated dance moments work nicely here.  The real highlights of the album are the furiant and comedian dance where the orchestra really seems to be enjoying themselves.

    The Berlin RSO does a good job of playing through this music.  Overall it is a good reading with excellent solo work commendable across the ensemble.  The symphony itself is a solid work, but begins to feel overlong by the time the finale appears.  It often feels like more rubato, or shaping of the themes is needed to help add more emotional intensity at times.  But, it is perhaps just not there anyway.

    For this recording, Naxos has managed a fairly dry sound.  This allows for some crispness and clarity in the recording.  Sometimes winds are brought forward more than they otherwise might sound in concert.  But this is really minor.  There are three other recordings of the symphony currently available and all recorded in the Czech Republic.  Marco Polo had this in their catalogue as well, but this release would seem to more than replace that version.  From the looks of it, this may be the safest, and most economical bet of the bunch as it does not seem to have inspired many of the countries notable conductors to take it up.  Ang seems to be a conductor focused on clear, straight-forward readings of the music staying fairly faithful to the text without any extra interpretive nuances.  This may be the best approach for a work like the symphony.  Things seem to take off a bit more interpretively in the selections from The Battered Bride where both the music and the writing tends to be far more interesting.  With a third of the album given over to these familiar selections, there may be just enough to entice the casual listener to give the symphony a chance as well.