Antonin DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Serenade for Strings in E, Op. 22 (1875) [27:12]
rec. Evangelische Schlosskirche, Ludwigsburg, Germany, June 1975
Josef SUK (1874-1935)
Serenade for Strings in E-flat, Op. 6 (1892) [26:30]
Hugo WOLF (1860-1903)
Italian Serenade (1887/1892) [8:39]
rec. Schloss Ludwigsburg, Stuttgart, June 1971
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
Holberg Suite, Op. 40 (1884) [17:13]
rec. Victoria Hall, Geneva, November 1956
Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra/Karl Münchinger
DECCA ELOQUENCE 480 0447 [79:56]
The works on this thrown-together-looking program span twenty years of recording
sessions in a variety of venues. They are linked in representing various "ethnic"
strains in music, whether directly or, in the case of Wolf's Italian Serenade,
indirectly.
The luminous, transparent Suk and Wolf selections are the album's highlights.
The Suk is a particular surprise - one hadn't expected the staid Münchinger
to have such a feeling for its distinctive Bohemian lyrical nostalgia, or
to imbue the music with so strong a profile. He finds a spacious stillness
in the end of the opening Andante con moto, and draws real drama out
of the transition back to the second movement's main theme. The Adagio
begins with a muted, fragile lyricism, acquiring a nice ebb and flow as pizzicatos
spur the music forward. The finale is propulsive while retaining a spacious
beauty. Throughout the performance, resonant double-basses provide firm-bodied
support.
The shafts of wind color in Wolf's Italian Serenade - the luminous
oboe, the crisp flute, the warm, round horn - bring welcome timbral variety
to this otherwise all-string selection. Some performances of this piece just
chug along indiscriminately. Münchinger gives sufficient attention to
details of phrasing and rhythm to project its underlying shape, and thus to
hold the listener's interest. The basic 6/8 patterns - presumably, and not
inaccurately, the score's "Italian" element - are nicely pointed. The expansive
lyricism in the contrasting passages compensates for a slight loss of momentum
elsewhere, and Münchinger brings real elegance to the episode with the
pizzicatos at 6:09.
The early-stereo account of the Holberg Suite documents a more youthful,
energetic Münchinger than the familiar purveyor of old-fashioned Brandenburg
Concertos. There's a buoyancy and drive to the playing that would fade
in the course of the conductor's long career. Crisp, alert rhythmic articulations
propel the opening movement. The conductor shapes the bittersweet Sarabande
with feeling, while bringing a lilt to the similar material of the Gavotte.
The Air goes with a haunting spaciousness; the closing Rigaudon,
more relaxed than in some other readings, captures an authentic Hardanger
spirit. Digital tweaking has opened up what I remember as the clean but boxy
sound of the London Stereo Treasury LP.
The Dvořák Serenade was always an oddity, an orphan without a
proper discmate in the Decca vaults: the British LP harnessed it to a reissue
of the still-recent Suk, while the performance never turned up in the USA
at all. It's the odd performance in this collection, too, rather a big-boned
rendering for a small orchestra, an impression reinforced by a conspicuous
big-hall ambience. Münchinger's vigorous manner incorporates aggressive
accentuations, demonstrative, Germanic rhetorical distensions, and awkward
ritards, those last seemingly dictated by technical necessity rather than
interpretive choice. And there's noticeable insecurity, especially among the
inner parts. The transitional chord at 2:02 of the Scherzo is simply
wrong, with a minor third instead of a major; the violins sing sweetly at
the start of the Larghetto, but tentative supporting voices leave a
mushy impression. Perhaps the conductor simply hadn't lived with this music
long enough.
Still, for the other performances here, this is an excellent buy at a low
price. The typography and proof-reading departments were both asleep at the
switch: both the booklet and the endpaper give Dvořák's dates
as 1913-1976, which would make him even more retrograde a composer than academia
considers him already.
Stephen Francis Vasta
An excellent buy at a low price.