Customer Reviews

Bedrich Smetana: The Complete Czech Dances

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I heard five performances of Czech dances, so I'm quite familiar with this cycle (actually, I'm playing some of them) and I must say - the Kubalek's version is the number one. Now and forever. Lovely music, recommended to all music lovers.

Antonin Kubalek has graced us with a series of sparkling recordings courtesy of the Dorian label. As a Czech emigre to Canada, Kubalek has remained somewhat out of the mainstream in classical music, but a fair amount of the Dorian label was available via BMG a few years ago, which is how I first became acquainted with Kubalek's artistry. I was indeed delighted to make the acquaintance, as Kubalek possesses as fine a musical maturity as one is likely to encounter today.

In this album, he devotes his attention to the two books of Czech Dances by Smetana. Both Smetana & Dvorak are well-known to mainstream classical audiences, but certainly not for their piano music. Smetana more than Dvorak might remind the listener of a Czech version of Chopin, as the vast majority of his output was for piano. These collections of miniatures are in the same vein as Chopin's Polonaises or Mazurkas, all based on native Czech folk dances. Smetana wrote all of these dances fairly late in his life, by which time he had gone totally deaf (but had not yet gone insane).

Kubalek, as is usual, gives beautifully-wrought performances, carefully shaping every phrase, tempo & dynamic. It has been 14 years since Dorian released this album, yet one can only hope that Kubalek may yet again get the opportunity to record more of Smetana's & Dvorak's wrongly-neglected piano music.

Antonin Kubalek left his native Czechoslovakia for Canada in 1968, as the Soviet tanks were rolling into Prague. The homesickness that he felt for his native country awakened a new affection for the piano music of such Czech composers as Dvorak, Martinu, Janacek, and the man generally regarded as the father of Czech classical music, Bedrich Smetana.

This recording, twenty years after he left Czechoslavakia, is the exquisite product of that awakening. The love that he feels for these pieces is audible in every note. Kubalek is definitely a romantic pianist, using considerable rubato. Yet he keeps every note under control, and he shapes each piece beautifully.

These are dances in much the same way as Chopin's waltzes, polonaises, etc., with cadences, accelerandos, etc. Yet every one is based on a dance native to Czechoslovakia. Only the furiant from Book 2 was at all familiar to me. It was a true delight to discover the others.

While Antonin Kubalek is not very well known, his recordings of this and other Czech music establish him as a peer of such greats as Ivan Moravec and Rudolf Firkusny.

Dorian's sound is, as always, perfect.

This is incredible collecton of surprisingly nice piano music. Full of inspiration, beautiful melodic ideas and with colourful and clear sound. The Smetana's answer to Dvorak's Slavonic Dances shows us, that his creative abilities in his mature age were quite good... In fact, this is wonderful Slavonic music, but also nice collection of unusual forms. Smetana combines monothematic and counterpoint techniques with funny rhytms and wonderful mellodies. Performance is perfect - better than Firkusny or Kvapil. You must have it!

I have many CD's with compositioions of Czech masters, but this one is one of the greatest. Perfect performance. I have also Klansky and Novotny, but this one is my favourite.