Encore: From the pastoral life to dead ladies: some intriguing recent Czech CDs
In Encore this week we review a recording of the "Eclogues" by a Czech composer who was immensely influential in the early part of the 19th century, Vaclav Jan Tomasek. We also discuss a CD of the Czech Trio playing Suk, Dvorak and Martinu with great sensitivity, and there's a new collection of recordings by Sona Cervena, who has had an incredible career, beginning in music theatre with Voskovec and Werich, going to stardom in opera in the West, and then working with such 'art rockers' as Tom Waits and Lou Reed. Now, in her 80's, she is active as an actress.
Vaclav Jan Tomasek's "Eclogues" and the joys of the pastoral life
With spring in the air we start by looking at a CD of some outdoorsy music. In the early 1800s Vaclav Jan Tomasek composed 42 Eclogues, a form virtually unique to him, that he based on the ancient literary form that you might remember from Virgil. They are devoted to the rural and pastoral life.
For Tomasek, that didn't mean the introspection of the shepherd poet, but the boisterous world of the hunt and of peasant celebrations.
There is a plaque on his house, on Tomasska Street in the Lesser Quarter, and that house was the center of musical life in Prague in the first half of the 19th century. Every visiting artist - from Paganini to Clara Schumann - went there.
He was quite an important composer. His music is considered to link Viennese classicism with early romanticism.
The Eclogues are played by pianist Milan Langer on a recent reissue on the Panton label of a Supraphon recording from 1998. He plays with virtuosity and intelligence - quite an interesting disk.
The Czech Trio plays Josef Suk
Now we look at a recording with Milan Langer again, but this time in his role as pianist in the Czech Trio, along with violinist Dana Vlachova and cellist Jan Petras.
Josef Suk's "Elegie" on this recording is at the opposite pole of romanticism from Tomasek -this piece was written in 1902, and it also has a literary reference, being entitled Elegie under the influence of Julius Zeyer's Vysehrad. This piece is beautifully and sensitively performed.
Suk has an anniversary this year: he died 70 years ago in 1935, so we will definitely be returning to him in furutre editions of this programme. The CD, on the Arco Diva label, also contains Dvorak's F minor Trio and a rousing performance of Martinu's marvelous Grand Trio in C major from 1951.
The inimitable voice of Sona Cervena
Continuing in a romantic vein, let's turn to some love songs written - also in 1951 - by the contemporary Czech composer Petr Eben and beautifully recorded by the Czech mezzo-soprano Sona Cervena in 1959, with the composer at the piano, on a Supraphon disk entitled simply Sona Cervena.
Sona Cervena has had an incredible career, beginning in music theatre with the legends of 1920s and 30s satirical cabaret, Voskovec and Werich, going to stardom in opera in the West, and then working with such 'art rockers' as Tom Waits and Lou Reed. Now, in her 80's, she is active as an actress. This is a fascinating CD - including Ladislav Vycpalek's Sonata for violin, soprano and piano, part of Janacek's Diary of One who Disappeared, and Otakar Ostrcil's 'Orphaned Child' - very interesting and good music.
One of my favourites is the Eben love song, to Francois Villon's "Ballade des dames du temps jadis", which they have translated here as the Ballad of Dead Ladies. Perhaps the "Ladies from Times Past" would be a bit more poetic!
CDs reviewed in this programme are provided by Siroky Dvur
