Customer Reviews

Smetana: Polkas

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

 

 

Don't be put off by "polkas." Smetana does for the polka what Chopin did for the mazurka. Besides, Smetana writes Bohemian polkas which is definitely not the kind of music the Polka King plays. Schiff's playing is, as usual, both translucent and luminous.

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The brilliant Hungarian pianist András Schiff does a fine job with this nice ethnic art. As someone has mentioned, these Polkas are similar in ethos to Chopin's Mazurkas: taken from its central-eastern European folk-roots origin, and made into an higher art-form.

Other complaints concerning Schiff's readings here as compaired with Walter Klien ( Smetana: Polkas ) are questionable. I have both readings; both readings are fine. It's simply a question of individual artistic vision: embrace it.

Nice Brueghel-ish cover art, too!

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Not bad... Interesting phrasing and free rhytm - perhaps too much. But the best Smetana's player of today is Antonin Kubalek. Try his Czech Dances and Memories of Bohemia and you'll see.

I had been really enthused when first seeing this new (and different) release by Schiff, and thus bought it, relenting my usual financial caution. Why? Because (1) renditions of the Polkas are as scarce as the proverbial hen's tooth; and (2) since my initial contact with these tuneful Smetana dances, played by Radislav Kvapil on an old Musical Heritage Society LP, which I still own, I have adored them. I know these pieces by heart and so it pains me to say that Schiff's playing is completely affected, postured and, when neither of these, strictly "by the book." Repeated listenings confirmed my worst fears. A whole lot of insufferable poking going on! And pulling. And diddling with dynamics (when there shouldn't be any diddling). Because there aren't a great many collections of Smetana's Polkas available on CD (especially with these particular opus numbers), it's all regretfully problematic.

Newcomers to Smetana's Polkas will unlikely find fault with Schiff's playing, and may in fact think that this is the way the dances should sound. There's the rub.

[Running time: 56:25]