Antonin DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Violin Concerto (1880 rev. 1882) [33:25]
Sonatina in G, B183 Op.100 (1893) [18:27]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Violin Concerto No. 3, K216 (1775) [24:21]
Vása Příhoda (violin)
Maria Bergmann (piano)
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR/Hans Müller-Kray
rec. 1951, Baden-Baden, Hans-Rosbaud-Studio (Sonatine): 1953, Stuttgart,
Villa Berg (Mozart); 1956, Stuttgart-Degerloch, Waldheim (Dvořák)
SWR CLASSIC SWR19072CD [76:18]
Vása Příhoda was the leading Dvořák violin soloist of his generation. The Sonatina performance is one of several that have survived: there’s a Michael Raucheisen accompanied reading from the 1940s and a live one with Alfred Holeček (Jan Kubelik’s accompanist) from 1956 which marked a triumphant return to Prague. Playing with fervent romanticism he lavishes heavy slides in the Larghetto – but it is always full of natural phrasing – reserving perhaps his best playing for the finale. The pianist here is Maria Bergmann, one of the most sensitive ‘house accompanists’ of the time. Those who know the famous 1943 78rpm set made in Berlin with Paul van Kempen will appreciate how compelling Příhoda was in the Concerto; what I called there his ‘elastic lyricism, his control of rubati, his crystalline upper register playing and the panoramic sweep and cogency he brings with a concomitant emotive generosity.’ But as with all great artists he could approach the work with different emphases as the surviving broadcasts, such as this, show. The subtle, and not quite so subtle, variations in tempo relation and phrasing between this account with Müller-Kray, the wartime reading, and the Prague Spring performance of 1956 with Jaroslav Krombholc are notable. What is never in doubt is the folkloric rhythm of the central movement and the sweep and drama he finds in the work time and again.
He recorded Mozart’s Third Concerto for the radio in Stuttgart at roughly the same time that he taped a slew of works for Cetra LPs in Italy (review). The Third teamed him with RAI Turin under Ennio Gerelli; in Stuttgart, Müller-Kray again. The capricious, overtly romanticist approach persists in Stuttgart, brittle, nervous and highly-strung playing pretty much the polar opposite of such as Grumiaux, Goldberg and Szeryng in this repertoire. Additionally, as I wrote in my Cetra review, his legato phrasing is constantly dipping and swooping as if on ever-quivering currents of air, whilst his intonation flattens for optimum expressive potential. He plays his own three cadenzas – something for cadenza nuts, as they are not uniformly convincing. Of the three movements the finale here is the freest stylistically, the drollest, and the most wild.
All three of these broadcast recordings have been released before on the Podium label, which houses a raft of studio traversals by the great Czech violinist. Perhaps unsurprisingly Podium’s eminence grise Wolfgang Wendel has written the sleeve notes (German and English) for SWR’s restoration which uses the original tapes. The Dvořák sonatina was on POL 1004-2 and both Concertos on POL 1002-2. The difference between the SWR and the older discs is not massive. There is certainly more definition however in the original tapes, notably in the bass, and a somewhat wider dynamic range. If you have the Podium discs, however, I don’t think the small benefit in sound quality warrants ditching them.
Jonathan Woolf
