This
CD is an unalloyed pleasure and only drops a point in deference
to the age of its recording. The Smetana Quartet were renowned
in their day as amongst the finest quartets in the world. Visits
to the LP sales back in the 1960s always started by scouring the
shelves for these Supraphon issues. Even though the pressings
were not always of the best one was guaranteed a window on the
world of Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, Smetana, Dvořák and
Martinů through which their finest inspirations could pass
as if direct from their own minds. It was with this memory that
I listened first to the Beethoven Op.18 No.1. It was issued along
with the Smetana Quartet’s equally revelatory performance of Op.95,
but of course there was no room for that on this well filled CD.
Hearing Op.18 No.1 was like coming home and the improvement wrought
in the sound by issue on CD only brought greater pleasure. Though
numbered ‘One’ it is no such thing, having been added to the set
last, after revision. I still find this the best of the early
quartets in its range and depth; it even hints at the late works.
Often,
when listening to old Supraphon issues, I am struck by how beautifully
natural the original recordings are. All that ever stood between
listener and studio was those frequently rather dreadful pressings
or, as often, the inferior playing equipment we used. (A modern
"vinyl" replace system reveals that even Supraphon pressings
were not always so terrible. Ask any modern LP collector and they
will bore the pants off you with tales of "the red label
Supraphons".)
But
I digress. It is not that the performances are "straight"
in the sense of being perfect renderings of text, that would lead
to impressive but unmoving performances. The Smetanas are alive
to musical nuance at every moment and there is a constant sense
of rubato wherein these four seem to think as one without ever
threatening the individual lines. Listen for example to the opening
of the Scherzo, Allegro Molto, and focus on how 1st
violin Jiří Novák and cellist Antonín Kohout play a sort
of sublime duet within the texture. It is this sort of interplay
that characterises all the performances. There is never any doubt
that four or five individuals are contributing but they never
sound to be in conflict. Another example of their clarity is the
ease with which one can count through the variations in the Andantino
of The Trout. One could almost teach variation form by
ear with this rendering. In this piece too it is wonderful to
hear the musical contribution from the double bass who comes over
as part of the musical ensemble and not just a supporting bass
line. Bassist František Pošta also joined the Dvořák Quartet
players for a lovely performance of Dvořák’s String Quintet
in G major issued during 1962. I wonder if anyone at Supraphon
Archiv might be encouraged to reissue that, and put a picture
of him in the booklet as he is missed out of this one.
Pianist
Jan Panenka (no picture of him either) was always an underrated
master of the classical repertoire. Schubert’s Trout calls
upon his abilities as a player of melody since so little of the
music is chordal, as it is in for example Schumann’s great Piano
Quintet. He joins these great players as one of the team and
the result is a well nigh perfect Trout. It has to be admitted
that this piece in particular suffers from 1960s sound wherein
the piano is a bit tinkly, but everything else is very clean and
clear.
The
Quartettsatz, which is all we ever hear of Schubert’s unfinished
D 703 (he did write some of the slow movement), offers violinists
Jiří Novák and Lubomír Kostecky a chance to play with a sweetness
of tone that makes the dramatic contrasts with which the Quartettsatz
is packed even more full of impact. The old recording is again
a touch thin but in the face of these performances who cares?
The Smetanas were touted by some as the best, it is not
hard to understand why. An essential purchase.
Dave Billinge
Smetana Quartet: Jiří
Novák, violin; Lubomír Kostecky, violin; Milan Škampa, viola; Antonín Kohout,
cello