Alexander MOYZES (1906-1984)
Dances From Slovakia
Gemer Dances Op. 51 (1955) [16:26]
Down the River Vah Op. 26 (1935/45) [23:09]
Pohronie Dances Op. 43 (1950) [31:21]
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Bratislava/Ondrej Lenárd
rec. 1989, Concert Hall, Slovakia Radio, Bratislava.
NAXOS 8.555477 [71:12]
As with the rest of the Moyzes/Naxos series the present disc first appeared under the Marco Polo label (8.223278). It was always a supplement to the Moyzes symphony cycle, all the CDs from which have now been appeared on Naxos. The pity is that Marco Polo were never able to give us Moyzes’ concertos for violin and piano. There are also four string quartets.
The symphonies were recorded in the first half of the 1990s. This disc came before them. The playing is fervent but the sound of the strings has a noticeably hard edge unlike the very nice results captured for the symphonies.
We start with the most recent work: a set of Dances from Gemer, part of Southern Slovakia. These four are short, bright, breezy and bombastic. They’re alive with the sound of the cimbalom and are from the same vivid colouring book as many another Soviet composer’s populist folk-rooted sets of dances. The writing is not a great genre leap from the Britten/Berkeley Mont Juic or Arnold’s English Dances. The last of Moyzes’ dances has one or two Khachaturian-hallmarked ‘oompah’ moments. This work dates from about the same era as the Violin Concerto, Op. 53 which has been heard on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Through the Night’ programme.
The five picturesque movements from Down the River Vah owe their existence to incidental music Moyzes was commissioned to write for Slovakian radio. He revised the work and added a fifth movement in 1945. The often triumphant music marks the construction of a new power station (there are now sixteen of them) on the river Vah. The Vah is a tributary of the Danube and traces its source from the Tatras. Perhaps not surprisingly, there are a few moments where Smetana’s Vltava peeks out from a work that is much earlier than the Gemer dances. The earliest piece here, it is a degree less garish than the later work and I found in it more substance and spread of mood. The travelogue-style titles are: At the Sources; From Liptov to Orava; Around Strecno; Romance; Into the Danube's Embrace. The Romance is a touching piece in which, for the most part, glare and triumphalism does not trump poetry. The score is very roughly contemporary with the second and third of his symphonies - very different works.
In Moyzes’ time-line the four Pohronie Dances lie between the Gemer and Vah works. After a fierily strutting first dance (Round the Campfire with Hatchetsticks), which looks towards Josef Suk’s march Towards A New Life, comes On the Meadow with Flowers. This latter piece balances touching moments (Vah’s Romance) with bravado. In the Mountain with Axes is the third dance and the dances set ends with the virtuously titled At Music after work - as much a paean to work as to leisure. This is delicate, inventive and good-hearted music and is not so far removed stylistically from Moyzes’ Fifth and Sixth symphonies. It is the most consistently engaging and subtle of the three sets of dances showcased on this disc. As good fortune would have it the Pohronie dances are also the longest playing set on this disc.
The three-fold liner sheet sets the scene with a short introduction by Keith Anderson and a much longer entrée to the Dances - all thirteen tracks - by Juraj Bubnáš.
There is some subtlety and fresh invention here but Slav dazzle and whirl are predominant.
Rob Barnett
Reviews of previous releases in this series
Symphonies 1 and 2
Symphonies 3 and 4
Symphonies 5 and 6
Symphonies 7 and 8
Symphonies 9 and 10
Symphonies 11 and 12
