Václav Neumann (conductor)
Early Recordings
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Prague Symphony Orchestra
Film Symphony Orchestra
Brno Philharmonic Orchestra
rec. 1953-1968, various venues
Mono or stereo not given
SUPRAPHON SU4133-2 [6 CDs: 463:10]
Since so much of Václav Neumann's recorded work, both for the hometown Supraphon label and, later, for Canyon Classics, has struck me as stiff and uptight, I was delighted to hear the conductor sounding so much fresher and more engaged at these earlier sessions. Stateside, some of this material was licensed domestically - the monaural Dvořák symphony cycle in a cheap Murray Hill "simulated stereo" box set; the Schubert symphonies on a Crossroads (CBS) LP; the Notturno on a Nonesuch program - but none of these items has been readily available for decades.
Any collection of this sort is going to have its high points and low points. The best performances here are truly outstanding, notably a wonderful Roussel Third Symphony. By turns driving, sombre, and playful, opening into full-throated, vibrant tuttis, it may just be the finest version of the piece I've ever heard.
The two shorter Dvořák pieces are first-rate. The Rondo, played with handsome assurance by Josef Chuchro, here sounds more substantial, even longer than usual, the good way, and the recording, while monaural, is pleasing. Neumann lays out the Notturno in a broad arc, using graduated dynamics to animate the long-breathed string lines: its understated intensity is compelling.
The Czechs take pride in their Austro-German performance traditions - they, too, were part of the Empire - and rightly so, judging from this brace of Schubert symphonies. Neumann must particularly have liked the Third, which still doesn't get much attention on its own. His performance is lively, firmly grounded, and smartly played, though, in the Finale, the tutti doesn't quite cover a premature oboe entrance at 1:48. The forthright Unfinished, "symphonic" rather than metaphysical, is mostly excellent, though the horns' Slavic wobbles cause an uneasy moment or two in the Andante. (Oddly, there's no hint of such a wobble anywhere else in the set.)
Grieg's Lyric Suite, in Neumann's hands, is shapely and vibrant, especially in the opening Shepherd Boy, which the conductor transforms from a pastoral cliché into an authentic, expressive episode. Conversely, the intrinsically stronger Peer Gynt music seems not to engage him as strongly. Morning Mood is perfunctory, In the Hall of the Mountain King a shade deliberate. Ĺse's Death, however, benefits from the conductor's feeling for its long lines.
Věra Soukupová's voice, clear and focused rather than deep and plush, isn't quite my idea of a Mahlerian alto. (The artist is in more authentic voice on Supraphon's later Das klagende Lied, under Herbert Ahlendorf.) Neither do I agree with some of her specific choices, like her separated phrasing in Wenn dein Mütterlein. But she sings with feeling and alert musicianship, and takes the Wayfarer group's upward excursions in a beautiful, connected float. Neumann's leadership is more involved than in his later Mahler symphony cycle, though he brushes past a fermata or two.
In my youth, I owned the aforementioned Murray Hill set, so hearing Neumann's three performances again was like meeting an old friend. Best is the D minor Symphony, which suggests the grandeur of the climaxes even through the restricted sonics. In The Bells of Zlonice, played with more surging enthusiasm than polish, the Finale's recapitulation differs from the usual edition -- both versions are conjectural -- and the conductor has apparently made further edits of his own. The B-flat Symphony is impossibly cluttered, both horizontally and vertically; Neumann and company give it their all, but each movement runs out of steam long before it actually ends.
Tchaikovsky's set of twelve piano pieces, The Seasons - more accurately, The Months - is heard as orchestrated by Václav Trojan, about whom the booklet proffers no additional information. Neumann, leading the "Film Symphony Orchestra," plays it stylishly, though the monaural sound saps the pieces of colour.
After the Roussel symphony, alas, the rest of the French disc is a write-off. The ballet suite, after a tentative start, is characterful, if noisy. The Messaien scores sound rather "modern" here. Yvonne Loriod's playing, as always, is dazzling, but Oiseaux exotiques relies overmuch on reeds in semitones for its "birdy" effects, while Réveil des oiseaux becomes so much aimless tintinnabulation.
The then-contemporary Czech pieces are purely of documentary interest. Shostakovich casts a long shadow over Vladimir Sommer's Vocal Symphony, from its opening noisy dissonances to its grim choral paeans; Soukupová strains at the higher-lying and upward-pointing lines. She's more comfortable in Pavel Bořkovec's Silentium turbatum, "for Alto, Electric Guitar, and Large Orchestra"; but the electric guitar is unhelpful. It's comparatively tactful - no obtrusive rock-based interruptions as one fears - but its first entry incongruously suggests Hawaiian music, and it doesn't really contribute anything later. The score's Expressionistic opening and its later, rhythmically driving passages, sans guitar, do spark interest.
I've not mentioned the compact, vivid quality of the stereo recordings; on CD 2, following the monaural Dvořák Second Symphony and Rondo, the Lyric Suite fairly leaps from the speakers. I enjoyed working my way through this set; but is it worth acquiring a six-disc box - or its digital equivalent - to get the good stuff? For some, perhaps, it will be. Others may want to investigate sources for possible selective downloading.
Stephen Francis Vasta
stevedisque.wordpress.com/blog
Contents
CD 1
Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, B. 9 (The Bells of Zlonice) (1865)[43:02]*
Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 13, B. 41 (1874) [39:59]*
CD 2
Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Symphony No. 2 in B flat, Op. 4, B. 12 (1865-7) [47:43]*
Rondo for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 94, B. 181 (1893) [7:43]*
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
Lyric Suite, Op. 54 (1904) [15:00]*
CD 3
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
The Seasons, Op. 37 (1875-6, orch. Trojan) [46:05]+
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
Peer Gynt: Suite No. 1, Op. 46 (1874-5) [14:20]*
Peer Gynt: Suite No. 2, Op. 55 (1891-2) [15:25]*
CD 4
Albert ROUSSEL (1869-1937)
Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 42 (1929-30) [24:26]#
Bacchus et Ariane: Suite No. 2, Op. 43 (1930) [19:42]#
Olivier MESSAIEN (1908-1992)
Oiseaux exotiques (1955-6) [15:19]
Réveil des oiseaux (1953) [21:09]
CD 5
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Symphony No. 3 in D, D. 200 (1815) [23:27]
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 (Unfinished) (1822) [23:54]
Vladimir SOMMER (1921-1997)
Vocal Symphony (1959) [31:47]
CD 6
Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)
Kindertotenlieder (1905) [27:12]
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (1883-5) [15:38]
Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen (1895) [5:35]
Pavel BOŘKOVEC (1894-1972)
Silentium turbatum (1964-5) [17:31]
Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Nocturne for String Orchestra in B minor, Op. 40, B 47 (1875, rev. 1882-3) [8:49]
Josef Chuchro (cello) (Dvořák Rondo)
Yvonne Loriod (piano) (Messaien)
Věra Soukupová (mezzo-soprano) (Mahler, Sommer, Bořkovec)
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
*Prague Symphony Orchestra
+Film Symphony Orchestra
#Brno Philharmonic Orchestra
