Of all the great Czech conductors of the past century - Talich,
Kubelík, Ančerl, Neumann - Zdenek Chalabala is probably
the most overlooked. There’s no reason for this; he’s
an extraordinary colorist and this two-CD set presents an opportunity
for more listeners to make his acquaintance. Chalabala excelled
in music like this: exciting, vividly orchestrated and lavishly
romantic. Everything here is superb.
Scheherazade leaps out of the speakers, or leaps as far
as a mono recording can. The sharp opening blast yields to a
pliant, rhapsodic, utterly lovely violin solo by a player who’s
unnamed in the booklet. This begins a classic account which
was once the exclusive property of hardcore collectors who bragged
to each other about their good fortune in finding a copy of
the Chalabala reading. We’re lucky to have it released
widely like this: the opening movement rocks with oceanic drama,
and the Calendar Prince sallies forth in a blaze of glory -
note the very Czech tone of the central clarinet solo. This
episode finishes with a climax that would make any conductor
of today proud. You can even hear the piccolo! The third-movement
love story is told with unusual expansiveness (11:33), occasional
violin portamenti, and unusually rustic-sounding percussion.
Only after 9:45 do things briefly feel a little rushed; maybe
the lovers’ passion has got the best of them. The final
movement is as good as it gets, the ending a perfect calm; it’s
a classic reading, for sure.
The Czech Philharmonic winds bring their unique colors to the
Rimsky-Korsakov version of Night on Bare Mountain. It’s
one of those technicolor pieces where you regret the thinness
of the timpani presence, but other than that the orchestra’s
vibrancy is well-preserved - along with a bit of a problem with
the violins keeping together at 4:53. Chalabala doesn’t
treat the piece like a race-track, but he also maintains sharp
rhythms and accents which make this a very good reading.
The second CD presents nearly an hour of highlights from Khachaturian’s
ballet Gayane, including the most famous bits (Sabre
Dance, Gayane’s Adagio, Gopak) and some
which are more obscure (a ten-minute scene called Gayane
and Giko). The Czech Philharmonic’s playing is superb
throughout, indeed impossible to fault, while Chalabala’s
leadership shapes this as legitimate ballet music rather than
a collection of loud, vulgar party tunes. The only possible
qualm is with the ordering of the excerpts; Gayane’s
Adagio, which is my favorite part of the piece, and which
is paced flawlessly here, is something I would have saved for
near the end, while the Lezghinka would have made a more
rousing finale than the excellently played Aisha’s
Awakening.
All throughout, the digitally restored mono sound is excellent.
It hails from 1953-1955 and is the kind of mono which is really
just as good as some of the first stereo efforts. There are
certainly no caveats necessary about acoustics, which in music
as colorful as this comes as quite a relief. The booklet includes
a brief but welcome biography of Chalabala, whose Dvorák
symphonic poems really deserve reissue as well. Until those
come along - please, Supraphon, please! - do enjoy this two-disc
set. It’s a total delight and outstanding testimony to
one of the century’s most overlooked conductors.
Brian Reinhart
Masterwork Index: Scheherazade
Czech Philharmonic/Zdenek Chalabala 