BARGAIN OF MONTH
Vitezlav NOVÁK (1870-1949)
Piano Music
Sonata Eroica, Op.24 (1900) [26:04]
Songs of Winter Nights, Op.30 (1902-03): Pisen mesicní noci (Song of a moonlit
night) - Andante amoroso [4:12]; Pisen bourlivé noci (Song of a stormy night)
- Allegro tempestuoso [2:33]; Pisen vánocni noci (Song of Christmas night)
- Andante misterioso [6:00]; Pisen noci karnevalové (Song of a carnival night)
- Allegro burlesco [4:35]
Slovak Suite, Op.32 (1903): V kostele – Andante [5:26]; Mezi detmi - Vivace,
giocoso [4:19]; Zamilovaní - Andante con moto [4:39]; U muziky - Allegro strepitoso
[4:33]; V noci - Andante con tenerezza [7:38]
Dymák (Con fuoco) from Valachian Dances, Op. 34 No. 2 (1904) [6:14]
Radoslav Kvapil (piano)
rec. Stockenny, Powys, Wales, July 2010
ALTO ALC 1113 [76:18] 
This is a rare bird indeed – a very recent recording from that grandee of
Czech music: Radoslav Kvapil. May there be many more for his powers have not
waned.
It was back in 2003 that Jonathan
Woolf and I each welcomed the issue of a three CD Supraphon set in which
Frantisek Rauch played the piano in an all-Novak set. Now we have Novak in
modern sound from Kvapil.
Radoslav Kvapil has also recorded for Supraphon. I recall his multi-disc intégrale
of the Dvorák solo piano music first issued on LP. Since then he has continued
to record. A splendid series of Kvapil CDs in the shape of his “Anthology
of Czech Piano Music” appeared at first on Unicorn. In recent times this series
(and more) have been reissued on Regis and now on Alto. In the original series
Kvapil devoted a disc to each of Dvorák, Smetana, Martinu, Vorisek, Fibich,
Janácek and Suk. During 2011 they will reappear in boxed set form.
Sonata Eroica is a tempestuously romantic score. Rachmaninov might
come to mind in this heaving emotional cauldron of a piece. It is said to
be folksy but it doesn’t feel that way. There are only two movements and each
revels in tragic-heroic turmoil. Beside this work Macdowell’s much earlier
sonata of the same name seem positively placid. The masterful and convincingly
authoritative Kvapil wrestles with the score allowing the writing its sense
of danger and glorious struggle.
We move to different climes for the Songs of Winter Nights. This music
glitters and is more introspective but before long we are back to the crashing
waves and flashing forked lightning. The second Song is marked Tempestuoso.
There’s a dark fantastic element here as if Novak with his twentieth century
sensibilities was tapping into the Eben fairytales (favoured by Dvorák in
his symphonic poems) yet giving them a more expressionist and grown-up edge
than Dvorák’s palette would allow. Song of Christmas Night is the third
piece. It glistens and shines in slow oscillation similar in manner to the
later astral songs of Finzi. Song of a Carnival Night is the least
gloomy and ambiguous of the four pieces but it too has its grotesque twists
and turns of mood.
The Slovak Suite is rather more relaxed than the Sonata Eroica and
Songs of Winter Nights. It might be better known to some in its orchestral
guise. It still on occasion gives the impression of strenuous struggle as
in the fantastic Muziky (tr. 10). There’s real joy in flight in the
Vivace second movement. V noci returns us to the glistening
mysteries of the Songs of Winter Nights with its melodic outline belled
out in slow and ultimately warm motion.
The Valachian Dance – Dymak is just as muscular and late-romantic as
the other writing on this disc. It was not quite what I was expecting given
its ‘programme’. It is said to convey an ever-accelerating dance in which
the girl is thrown high in the air by her partner and then caught after which
the couple then whirl away at increasing speed.
The notes are by Ludmila Perinova, General Secretary of the International
Novak Society. I hope that the Society will be able to turn its attention
to recording the following late orchestral scores: Erotikon, Pan,
Autumn Symphony Op. 62, May Symphony Op. 73 and the Zizka
Scenes Op. 79b.
If you can find the following Novak/Kvapil project do snap it up. It’s the
Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 12; Songs of a Winter Night and Slovak Songs.
The recording was made in 1996, in the Czech Brethren Evanglic Church, Prague,
Czech Republic. Kvapil’s co-artists are the Kocian Qt and the young Magdalena
Kozená. It’s an ASV disc from 1998: CD DCA 998.
Novak is very well worth exploring so do have a look at the following reviews:-
The Storm - Supraphon
Tone Poems – Sejna (Supraphon)
Eight Nocturnes – Bostock (ClassicO)
Tone Poems and Songs – Bostock (ClassicO)
Lady Godiva and other tone poems – Pesek (Chandos)
There are many others MWI has not had the chance to review including two Supraphons
of the ballets Nikotina (SU3050-2 031) and Signorina Gioventu (SU3049-2
031), a Virgin Classics/Pesek/RLPO disc (CDC 7243 5 45251 2 4) of the tone
poems (deleted but can be had secondhand or via ArkivCD service) and Pan
(Marco Polo 8.223325).
Radoslav Kvapil’s playing on this Alto disc is miraculously sure-footed and
full of bounding insights. He is a virtuoso of finger dexterity, revelation
of mood and narrative arch.
More rare Czech music from this source would be more than welcome and I hope
that we will get further Novak works from Kvapil.
Rob Barnett
Miraculously sure-footed and full of insight. Kvapil is a virtuoso of dexterity,
mood and narrative.