{"id":46239,"date":"2017-07-04T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=46239"},"modified":"2017-07-04T11:00:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T15:00:31","slug":"record-keeping-jiri-belohlavek-in-memoriam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/07\/04\/record-keeping-jiri-belohlavek-in-memoriam\/","title":{"rendered":"RECORD KEEPING |\u00a0Ji\u0159\u00ed B\u011blohl\u00e1vek: A Posthumous Homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dvo\u0159\u00e1k:
Dvo\u0159\u00e1k: Slavonic Dances Op. 46 & Op. 72. Czech Philharmonic\/Ji\u0159\u00ed B\u011blohl\u00e1vek. Decca 478 9458. Total Time: 76:08.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On May 31, Czech conductor Ji\u0159\u00ed B\u011blohl\u00e1vek passed away at the age of 71. For more than 35 years B\u011bhlohl\u00e1vek 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\u00a0performance with the TSO. With them, he conducted a wide repertoire of music with a decided emphasis on the music of his countrymen: Dvo\u0159\u00e1k, Smetana, Suk, Jan\u00e1\u010dek, and Martin\u016f. Significantly, he also conducted works by Oskar Morawetz on a number of his TSO programmes \u2014 Morawetz was born in Czechoslovakia but lived most of his life in Canada.<\/p>\n

But first and foremost B\u011blohl\u00e1vek was the principal conductor of one of the world\u2019s 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 B\u011blohl\u00e1vek\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

For me, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s 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 Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s genius, but also to Szell\u2019s mastery and to the glory of the Cleveland Orchestra in the Szell era.<\/p>\n

For many years, the chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic was Vaclav Talich. Together, they gave us recordings of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s music, including the Slavonic Dances, that remain distinctive and revelatory. After Talich came Rafael Kubelik, Karel An\u010derl and Vaclav Neumann, and they too carried on the orchestra\u2019s authoritative Dvo\u0159\u00e1k performance tradition with distinction. Given his birthright and his international reputation, B\u011blohl\u00e1vek 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\u2019t until 2012, more than 20 years later, that B\u011blohl\u00e1vek 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 Dvo\u0159\u00e1k. They recorded together all of his\u00a0symphonies and concertos (Decca 47867579) and the Stabat Mater (Decca 48315109).<\/p>\n

As a young man B\u011blohl\u00e1vek did well in several international conducting competitions and became a student of the demanding and idiosyncratic Sergiu Celibidache. Given Celibidache\u2019s quirkiness as a conductor it may surprise some music-lovers to learn that B\u011blohl\u00e1vek 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.<\/p>\n

In the Slavonic Dances, especially the first Op. 46 set, B\u011blohl\u00e1vek 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. B\u011blohl\u00e1vek 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.<\/p>\n

Dvo\u0159\u00e1k 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For more RECORD KEEPING, see\u00a0HERE<\/u><\/a><\/span>.<\/h3>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ji\u0159\u00ed B\u011blohl\u00e1vek is in his element, conducting iconic music of his homeland. A longstanding TSO guest conductor\u2014until February this year\u2014we take a retrospective look at his artistry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":46240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,77,51,52,60],"tags":[994,1101,9458],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/07\/DvorakSlavDancesBehlohlavic-3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-c1N","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46247,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46239\/revisions\/46247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46239"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=46239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}