We have detected that you are using an adblocking plugin in your browser.

The revenue we earn by the advertisements is used to manage this website. Please whitelist our website in your adblocking plugin.

RECORD KEEPING | Jiří Bělohlávek: A Posthumous Homecoming

By Paul E. Robinson on July 4, 2017

Dvořák: Slavonic Dances Op. 46 & Op. 72. Czech Philharmonic/Jiří Bělohlávek. Decca 478 9458. Total Time: 76:08.
Dvořák: Slavonic Dances Op. 46 & Op. 72. Czech Philharmonic/Jiří Bělohlávek. Decca 478 9458. Total Time: 76:08.

On May 31, Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek passed away at the age of 71. For more than 35 years Běhlohlávek had a close association with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and he was one of its favourite guest conductors. He conducted the orchestra for the first time in 1982 and made his last appearance this past February, his 77th performance with the TSO. With them, he conducted a wide repertoire of music with a decided emphasis on the music of his countrymen: Dvořák, Smetana, Suk, Janáček, and Martinů. Significantly, he also conducted works by Oskar Morawetz on a number of his TSO programmes — Morawetz was born in Czechoslovakia but lived most of his life in Canada.

But first and foremost Bělohlávek was the principal conductor of one of the world’s great orchestras, the Czech Philharmonic. This is an orchestra that has managed to retain its distinctive sound in the face of a worldwide trend toward a symphonic sound that is virtually the same in London, Berlin, New York, and Tokyo. This new release, one of Bělohlávek’s last recordings, is a good example. One marvels at the dark woodiness of the strings’ sound and the touch of vibrato in the clarinets and horns.

For me, Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances are among the pieces I return to again and again to remind myself how comforting and joyous music can be. This is “the people’s music”, one might say, raised to a sublime level by a master composer. Folk music, and music inspired by folk music as in the case of the Slavonic Dances, brings us together at the most elemental level. In Dvořák’s hands such music is also transformed into art music of immense subtlety and sophistication. My favourite recording of all 16 dances of Op. 46 and Op. 72 is the one made by George Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra (Sony Classical 89845). Szell had a reputation in some circles as being a heartless taskmaster, a conductor who got wonderful results through coercion and intimidation. Szell could certainly be tough and overbearing, but heartless? No, never. There is perfection and precision in these performances, but charm and tenderness too. It never fails that when I play one of the dances on this recording I have to go on to hear all the others too. This is surely a tribute to Dvořák’s genius, but also to Szell’s mastery and to the glory of the Cleveland Orchestra in the Szell era.

For many years, the chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic was Vaclav Talich. Together, they gave us recordings of Dvořák’s music, including the Slavonic Dances, that remain distinctive and revelatory. After Talich came Rafael Kubelik, Karel Ančerl and Vaclav Neumann, and they too carried on the orchestra’s authoritative Dvořák performance tradition with distinction. Given his birthright and his international reputation, Bělohlávek was a logical successor to Neumann and took up his post in 1990. However, he became a victim of political turmoil in the Czech Republic and was forced out in 1992, just a few years into his contract. It wasn’t until 2012, more than 20 years later, that Bělohlávek was rightfully restored to his directorship of the orchestra. In this phase conductor and orchestra were very active in the recording studio, especially with the music of Dvořák. They recorded together all of his symphonies and concertos (Decca 47867579) and the Stabat Mater (Decca 48315109).

As a young man Bělohlávek did well in several international conducting competitions and became a student of the demanding and idiosyncratic Sergiu Celibidache. Given Celibidache’s quirkiness as a conductor it may surprise some music-lovers to learn that Bělohlávek was not the least bit eccentric in his approach to the music; on the contrary, he was known for his respect for the score and for his unwillingness to “personalise” the music or to draw attention to himself in any way. Musicians everywhere admired him for that and he became a welcome visitor with all the leading orchestras and opera houses. He was chief conductor of the BBC Symphony from 2006 to 2012, and in that role became the first foreign-born conductor to preside over Last Night of the Proms.

In the Slavonic Dances, especially the first Op. 46 set, Bělohlávek is apt to seem a bit uptight compared to Szell but the warmth of the orchestral playing more than makes up for it. For me the highlights of this new recording come in the Op. 72 set. Bělohlávek is much freer in Op. 72 No. 3 with very convincing rubato and masterly management of the tricky tempo transitions. The trumpets are a little recessed in Op. 72 No. 1 but in No. 4 the dark and weighty sound of the horns is truly memorable.

Dvořák originally composed these pieces for piano four-hands and in this format they are charming and effective. When he orchestrated them, he almost recomposed them: these intimate piano pieces magically became orchestral masterpieces of real symphonic sweep. Incidentally, the Slavonic Dances are not mere transcriptions of actual folk dances, but they do make use of genuine folk styles, forms, and rhythms.

This new recording is an altogether worthy documentation of the glory of the Czech Philharmonic and a tribute to the integrity and musicianship of one of the finest exponents of Czech composers past and present.

For more RECORD KEEPING, see HERE.

#LUDWIGVAN

Share this article
lv_toronto_banner_high_590x300
comments powered by Disqus

FREE ARTS NEWS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, EVERY MONDAY BY 6 AM

company logo

Part of

Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
© 2024 | Executive Producer Moses Znaimer