Foerster: Symphony No. 4 Easter Eve; Festive Overture; Meine Jugend

Josef Bohuslav Foerster (Composer), Lance Friedel (Conductor), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) (Orchestra), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Bratislava (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Bratislava
• Conductor: Lance Friedel
• Composer: Josef Bohuslav Foerster
• Audio CD (March 21, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B000EBEGYQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #361,848 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Czech music at a bargain price, April 4, 2006

By 

Russian Music Fan (Twickenham, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foerster: Symphony No. 4 Easter Eve; Festive Overture; Meine Jugend (Audio CD)

If you have never heard Foerster's masterly Fourth Symphony - a remarkable fusion of Brucknerian and Dvorakian ideas - then this budget CD is a superb introduction. More than that, this is one of the definitive recordings of the work. Conductor Lance Friedel obviously loves this music (he also writes the liner notes). Unmissable.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars New recording of a Czech specialty, September 20, 2006

By 

Larry VanDeSande - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foerster: Symphony No. 4 Easter Eve; Festive Overture; Meine Jugend (Audio CD)

Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859-1951) fits in the history of Czech symphonic musicmaking somewhere after Dvorak and Smetana and before his compatriot Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) who eclipsed Foerster as the greatest Czech composer of their generation. Foerster was married to a soprano that was member of Mahler opera Company and, like many of his predecessors, left his homeland for life in Vienna and elsewhere.

The 4th Symphony, subtitled "Easter Eve" espousing the composer's religious beliefs on the death and resurrection of Christ, is considered Foerster's masterpeice. It is a dramatic symphony that reminds me of Suk without the complete mastery of the other composer or his range of emotions.

The symphony was premiered in Prague in November 1905. It is comprised of four movements:

1. Molto sostenuto, a dramatic presentation of Easter eve

2. Allegro decisio, a scherzo also called "A Child's Good Friday"

3. Andante sostenuto, a meditation called "The Charm of Solitude"

4. Lento lugubre - Allegro moderato, "The Victory of Good Friday"

The current recording is acceptable but hardly outstanding. It never pushes the music to the edge and the recording is not the best I've ever heard from Naxos. It is, however, an adequate introduction to music that is probably not well-known, or not known at all, the the average collector.

By my reckoning the greatest performance of this music comes in a 1948 Supraphon recording from the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Rafael Kubelik. While the sound is dated, with a restricted sound stage and fidelity, the musicmaking does far more than here to develop the religiousity, suavity and emotional appeal of the score, which is one of many that tries to portray the religious suffering and miracle of Easter.

The notes to the Kubelik issue -- last seen on CD as Supraphon SU 1912-2 001, still available in Europe -- devote more space to Czech music than this one. The sound is mono but OK. It is a studio, not concert, performance. Kubelik is widely accepted as an authoritative figure in Czech music. His recordings of the symphonies of Antonin Dvorak are still considered de rigeur in most quarters.

The Kubelik recording is not currently available in USA but may be available elsewhere. If you like the symphony and want to hear what it could become under an expert in Czech music, it may be worth your time and investment to seek it out. Otherwise, the Naxos issue provides an introduction to the symphony and a makeweight in modern DDD sound for not very much money.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Music Poorly Served by This Performance, May 8, 2006

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J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foerster: Symphony No. 4 Easter Eve; Festive Overture; Meine Jugend (Audio CD)

Much as I love Foerster's Fourth Symphony this recording let me down, largely because it sounds like the Slovak Radio Symphony are sight-reading the work. Add to that the too-common out-of-tune brass and wind playing and the rather tubby sonics and you have a major disappointment. The symphony itself is a lovely thing, reminding me at times of Richard Strauss on a contented day. It sounds kin to Goldmark's Rustic Wedding Symphony as well. For a better performance of a Foerster work, take a listen to the release (on Naxos' sister label, Marco Polo) of his opera, 'Eva,' which I recently reviewed here.

The two smaller pieces, neither of which I'd heard before, are given so-so performances, but one can hear that they have charms of their own, particularly the fifteen minute 'Meine Jugend' ('My Youth').

I would recommend the recording by Smetacek and the Prague Symphony on Supraphon with its superior performance although it, too, has disappointing sound. This symphony deserves a modern recording with an orchestra of the caliber of the Vienna Philharmonic (and they've played it in concert, if I remember correctly) but I guess we'll have to wait for that.

Scott Morrison