Here we have two recordings of Mahler’s Song of the
Earth, from two distinguished Czech conductors. I first
heard a snippet of Neumann’s Mahler Sixth while browsing
in HMV Bond Street many years ago, and it was so engrossing
that I made a mental note to investigate further. Alas that
never happened, so his Supraphon set of Nos. 1 to 9 is still
on my wish list. As for Karel Šejna (1896-1982), the only
recorded Mahler I’m aware of is the Fourth, with the Czech
Philharmonic; that was also released by Supraphon. What separates
this version from all others is that it’s sung in Czech.
Neumann’s recording comes from the Prague Spring International
Music Festival, first held in 1946. Musical anniversaries play
a big part in this event - 1971 marked 60 years since Mahler’s
death - while the May 1960 recording date and venue for the
Šejna disc suggests that too was an anniversary outing.
Both feature well-known Czech singers; Neumann’s Věra
Soukupová (b. 1932) and Vilém Přibyl (1925-1990)
are most familiar to me from their fine Janáček
recordings. Of Šejna’s soloists Beno Blachut (1913-1985)
stars in one of my favourite recordings of the Glagolitic
Mass, from Karel Ančerl and the CPO (Supraphon).
Introductions out of the way, what of the recordings themselves?
Šejna’s performance is taken from Czech Broadcasting
Company tapes that have been digitally ‘cleaned up’;
also, the original mono sound has been synthesised into what
the booklet calls ‘imitated stereo’. Even in its
re-mastered form there’s no disguising the variable pitch
and other sonic shortcomings. There are no such details about
the Neumann disc, but it’s clear the engineering is not
quite as sophisticated as that available to, say, the BBC in
their live recording of Horenstein’s Song of the Earth
from April 1972.
Initially, Neumann’s approach struck me as somewhat clipped,
even brusque; also, the thin orchestral sound and recessed voices
are hardly conducive to this most radiant of scores. Nevertheless,
one adjusts soon enough, even if the next hurdle - the distinctive
Slavic singing - may be harder to surmount. That said, Přibyl
has always been a most ardent and fearless tenor, and he copes
very well with the tessitura of the drinking song. He’s
also surprisingly characterful in the quieter passages. In short,
he sings with intelligence, which augurs well for the rest of
this performance. Soukupová’s fast vibrato is more
of an acquired taste, although she too sings with great feeling
in ‘Der Einsame im Herbst’.
What I miss most in Neumann’s account is the subtle shading
and harmonic shifts in the orchestra, important signposts that
are hard to discern in this backwardly balanced recording. The
CzPO play well, and I found myself warming to Neumann’s
way with the score. He certainly has a feel for the trembling
landscapes of the piece, and there’s some lovely, liquid
wind playing in ‘Von der Jugend’. That at least
is very audible, and the strings have an echt-Mahlerian
swoop as well.
Moving on, I concentrated much more on the orchestra than Soukupová
in ‘Von der Schönheit’, that dry-as-dust climax
a big let-down. Also, there’s more raspberry in the brass
than I’m used to; that said, this is actually quite an
appealing performance, sharpening my appetite for that Supraphon
set. It’s ‘Der Abschied’ that’s the
make or break movement, and I was pleasantly surprised to find
that Soukupová and Neumann are very affecting here. Certainly
that evanescent shimmer is there - listen to those gurgling
woodwinds and atmospheric harp swirls - and tempi are generally
well judged.
There’s no substitute for intelligent singing, and that’s
what Soukupová delivers here, aided and abetted by a
conductor keenly aware of the music’s nodal points. His
phrasing is a tad deliberate at times - halting, even - but
it’s very effective. Only in the last ten minutes does
that brusque quality return, and the air of raptness threatens
to evaporate. True, it’s a fine line between limpidity
and stasis; at least Neumann avoids the latter. As for the tam-tam
it’s audible - just - but that matters less when Soukupová
literally rises to the occasion. Janet Baker may dig deeper,
but her Czech counterpart gave me goose bumps at the very end.
A pity there isn’t more of a pause before the clapping
starts, something that plagues so many live performances.
Earlier I felt this Song of the Earth would only be of
dry, historical interest, yet it’s turned out to be a
much more compelling performance than I’d expected. Indeed,
if the balances were a bit better this would be a most desirable
issue. Which, alas, is more than I can say for the Šejna
recording. The aggressive start to the drinking song - not to
mention those overemphatic pizzicati - is a good indication
of what to expect. Despite the upfront sound the playing of
the Prague National Theatre band is nowhere near as polished
or idiomatic as that of the CzPO.
As far as the soloists are concerned, Blachut cuts a virile
figure, but he yields to Přibyl when it comes to vocal
dexterity and colour. Also, the Czech translation is somewhat
unsettling, compromising Mahler’s careful matching
of syllables and words to notes and phrases. While Marta Krásová
is steadier than Soukupová - her voice becomes steely
under pressure - she doesn’t have the latter’s inwardness.
There’s a lot of tape hiss and extraneous noise from the
audience, not to mention patches of instability and break-up;
‘Von der Jugend’ and ‘Von der Schönheit’
are particularly afflicted. Also, the orchestra migrates from
one channel to the other at one point.
In the context of historical/archive material these things are
to be expected, and matter less if the performance is anything
special. In this case it isn’t. Krásová’s
shrewish delivery in the fourth movement is especially crude
and unidiomatic. I can’t help feeling that the music loses
much of its shape and contour in translation, and that’s
not what one wants in music that’s made with such care
and subtlety. Needless to say Krásová’s
farewell isn’t very inspired either, even though orchestral
detail is clearer. That long, lofty line is missing, and Šejna’s
reading is somewhat rough and ready as well. As for those unguarded
and intrusive coughs …
In the illumination stakes Šejna is an also-ran, yielding
to Neumann in every respect. Both have reasonable booklets,
although Šejna’s shows more evidence of poor translation;
neither is particularly informative, but then I suspect anyone
interested in these issues wouldn’t bother with them anyway.
An intelligent, persuasive performance from Neumann; a crude
and unmemorable one from Šejna.
Dan Morgan
http://twitter.com/mahlerei
Věra Soukupová (contralto); Vilém Přibyl
(tenor) 
