Smetana's Dům

[Lethevich]

Surprised there isn't a serious thread on this fellow yet. I wanted to ask a question, but it wouldn't be a good way to start a thread without some kind of look at the music I do know:

His large symphonic poem cycle Má Vlast is as superb as its popularity implies, although like a few others, I find the two later-added pieces to be less inspired than the radiant first four. There are mercifully many great recordings of this work, so you could scarcely go wrong in buying one, but some of the most popular are Kubelik's last live recording on Supraphon, Wit's expansive take on Naxos, and Macal/Milwaukee SO(!) on Telarc.

His chamber works are sparse and gem-like in their quality. The two string quartets and the piano trio are essential works in their respective genres. The operas, much like Dvořák's, are quite neglected. I find myself preferring Smetana's to Dvořák due to a less routine method of composition which I have yet to fully understand. There is a great sweep to the music, sometimes in an almost oratoriac* manner, but also infused with dances and a lot of carefree moods. It is perhaps a little unfair that the only of his operas to have recieved any attention, The Bartered Bride, is the second of eight - and he shows no sign of having declined in compositional power towards the end of his life. The opposite is attested to in his chamber music.

*Made up words can be so useful!

Anyway, my question: what are your opinions on the various multiple-disc cycles of his orchestral works? The choices seem to be between Noseda/BBC Phil/Chandos (2 volumes, in progress), Válek/Prague RSO/Supraphon (3 discs), Kuchar/Janáček PO/Brilliant (3 discs). Did I miss any?

[Brian]

Anyway, my question: what are your opinions on the various multiple-disc cycles of his orchestral works? The choices seem to be between Noseda/BBC Phil/Chandos (2 volumes, in progress), Válek/Prague RSO/Supraphon (3 discs), Kuchar/Janáček PO/Brilliant (3 discs). Did I miss any?

I've got the Kuchar and the performances are vigorous, energetic and entertaining; Ma Vlast not the best, but then that's not why you get a complete set. (And the Bartered Bride excerpts ARE just about the best.)

There are a lot of "Festive" and "Comic" overtures which are really quite delightful; obviously the overture to The Bartered Bride was not an anomaly.

If you don't mind my adding a question, does anyone know anything about his piano music?

[DFO]

About his piano music, IMHO Smetana can be named the Czech Liszt. His short pieces are simply delightful, with all the charm and humor
of the best Czech music, and technically very difficult. The recording
of some of them by the great Rudolf Firkusny is already legendary.

[rubio]

About his piano music, IMHO Smetana can be named the Czech Liszt. His short pieces are simply delightful, with all the charm and humor
of the best Czech music, and technically very difficult. The recording
of some of them by the great Rudolf Firkusny is already legendary.

Do you refer to the Firkusny recording on Vox or EMI (Capitol)?

[DFO]

The Capitol one. Less sure technically but maybe more poetic is Jan Novotny. He recorded 16 short pieces on a double Supraphon.

[Superhorn]

   I don't recall much discussion of the music of this wonderful Czech composer here . Why "Smetana's sour cream factory"?
Smetana means sour cream in Czech ! 
His music doesn't seem to be played much currently outside the Czech republic, which is a pity, and  quite of few of his works are very little known outside there.  The Moldau (Vltava river) is familiar, but  performances of the whole great Ma Vlast cycle  are rare  .
The only one of his seven operas which is wel known outside the Czech republic is the Bartred Bride, and even that isn't done much today , also a pity.  Thankfully, a Met revival with a new production will not be too long in the to be conducted by James lev ine, health permitting .
    But  his other operas , Dalibor, The Two Widows, The Kiss,   The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, Libuse ( LI- boo-sheh) ,
and The Devil's Wall  are  almost totally unknown  to the general public .  I've heard all of them on  Supraphon recordings , and  have found them all highly enjoyable . 
I also have the Supraphon recording with Karel Sejna and the Czech Philharmonic, of his one symphony , which unfortunately uses the melody of "Deutschland Uber Allles " as its main theme, of course long before the Nazis  appropriated it for their own nefarious purposes ,and it's  also very much worth hearing . 
    Other interesting orchestral works of Smetana are the symphonic poems "Wallenstein's Camp" and "Richard the Third ".
There is also a remarkable piano piece, laterorchestrated by someone else called "Macbeth and the Witches ", which  uses  strtling 20th century style dissonances .
    Many eminent conductors have recorded the complete Ma Vlast , not only Czech ones : Kubelik, Neumann, Talich, Ancerl, Smetacek,
    Belohlavek, Pesek, Berglund,  Mehta, Macal, Sargent , etc. 
Any other thpoughts here about Smetana ?

[Mirror Image]

A Smetana thread has already been started here:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,13563.msg334774.html#msg334774

[Sammy]

   I don't recall much discussion of the music of this wonderful Czech composer here . Why "Smetana's sour cream factory"?
Smetana means sour cream in Czech ! 
His music doesn't seem to be played much currently outside the Czech republic, which is a pity, and  quite of few of his works are very little known outside there.  The Moldau (Vltava river) is familiar, but  performances of the whole great Ma Vlast cycle  are rare  .
The only one of his seven operas which is wel known outside the Czech republic is the Bartred Bride, and even that isn't done much today , also a pity.  Thankfully, a Met revival with a new production will not be too long in the to be conducted by James lev ine, health permitting .
    But  his other operas , Dalibor, The Two Widows, The Kiss,   The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, Libuse ( LI- boo-sheh) ,
and The Devil's Wall  are  almost totally unknown  to the general public .  I've heard all of them on  Supraphon recordings , and  have found them all highly enjoyable . 
I also have the Supraphon recording with Karel Sejna and the Czech Philharmonic, of his one symphony , which unfortunately uses the melody of "Deutschland Uber Allles " as its main theme, of course long before the Nazis  appropriated it for their own nefarious purposes ,and it's  also very much worth hearing . 
    Other interesting orchestral works of Smetana are the symphonic poems "Wallenstein's Camp" and "Richard the Third ".
There is also a remarkable piano piece, laterorchestrated by someone else called "Macbeth and the Witches ", which  uses  strtling 20th century style dissonances .
    Many eminent conductors have recorded the complete Ma Vlast , not only Czech ones : Kubelik, Neumann, Talich, Ancerl, Smetacek,
    Belohlavek, Pesek, Berglund,  Mehta, Macal, Sargent , etc. 
Any other thpoughts here about Smetana ?

Why haven't you mentioned his chamber music?

[Superhorn]

   Oops. I forgot the autobiographical string quartet "From my life")  , which in one section depicts the compoer's growing deafness with a high pitched  note representing ringing in the ear .
George Szell made an orchestration of the quartet, and it has been recorded, by I forget which conductor or conductors.
I belive there is one with  Geoffrey Simon and the LSO.

[Fafner]

My goodness! Only four posts in Smetana's thread? What a travesty! 

Anyway, I listened to the overture to The Bartered Bride as played by Chicago SO under Fritz Reiner (1955) and there was something very weird about it. I cannot put a finger on what it was exactly, but there were details that made it sound distinctly non-Czech. I suppose being so familiar with the tune since childhood and always hearing it from Czech orchestras, it kind of brings such a reaction.

[springrite]

My goodness! Only four posts in Smetana's thread? What a travesty! 

Anyway, I listened to the overture to The Bartered Bride as played by Chicago SO under Fritz Reiner (1955) and there was something very weird about it. I cannot put a finger on what it was exactly, but there were details that made it sound distinctly non-Czech. I suppose being so familiar with the tune since childhood and always hearing it from Czech orchestras, it kind of brings such a reaction.

The reason we need new members constantly is to prevent travesties like this. And you came just in time!

I have to confess that I have not heard any of Smetana's operas. I love the chamber music and the piano music probably more than the orchestrals ones, possibly because Ma Vlast suffered from over-exposure, in my case.

[Fafner]

I have to confess that I have not heard any of Smetana's operas.

Yes, Smetana was mainly a composer of operas in his time, but nowadays they are rarely played. With the exception of The Bartered Bride, which is a staple of the Czech operatic repertoire. Libuše is really a nationalistic artefact without much dramatic potential beyond the final "clairvoyance" scene. I would mostly recommend Dalibor and Two widows , the others are performed quite rarely.

The Bartered Bride overture is often played as an orchestral piece, because it is just lovely. There is an anecdote about Gustav Mahler who during his tenure with the MET decided to place the overture AFTER the first act so that even the New York snobs who always come late to the opera could hear it. 

[Fafner]

By the way, just listening to Dvořák's Hussite Overture and it is a really interesting comparison to Smetana's Tábor (from Má Vlast). They are both based on the same theme (15th century war song "Ye Who Are Warriors of God"). Dvořák goes much further in terms of development of the theme. Smetana just basically quotes it verbatim throughout the entire piece.

[Superhorn]

   It's a little known fact that Smetana wrote one symphony ,known as the "festive symphony ", and I have the excellent Supraphon recording with Karel Sejna and the Czech Philharmonic , coupled with  other works by this ocmposer and Dvorak .
It's an attractive and melodious work, but unfortunately, the main theme of the slow movement  is the the melody  later called   "Deutschland uber alles ",  used of course, long before the Nazis appropriated it .
Haydn uses this melody, apparently a Croatian folk song, in one of his string quartets .

[kyjo]

Only one page for this guy!? Just wanted to resurrect this thread to point out what an awesome orchestration Szell made of Smetana's SQ no. 1:

[asin]B000007QCH[/asin]

I'm a real sucker for orchestrations of piano and chamber works, especially this one. Szell captures the passion and intensity of the original chamber version while adding a natural-sounding extra dimension. The performances of Dvorak 7-9 are unmissable as well!

[jlaurson]

latest on Forbes:

Classical CD Of The Week: Czech Please

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/07/classical-cd-of-the-week-czech-please/

Bedřich Smetana , String Quartets, Talich String Quartet (La Dolce Volta)

[Karl Henning]

By the way, just listening to Dvořák's Hussite Overture and it is a really interesting comparison to Smetana's Tábor (from Má Vlast). They are both based on the same theme (15th century war song "Ye Who Are Warriors of God"). Dvořák goes much further in terms of development of the theme. Smetana just basically quotes it verbatim throughout the entire piece.

Most interesting, thanks.

[SymphonicAddict]

It seems that this great composer doesn't receive much attention in here 

I was listening to a potent recording of his other tone poems apart from My Country (Richard III, Wallenstein's Camp and Hakon Jarl). Astounding music, sometimes riotous but always gripping and powerful, partly influenced by Liszt, being more evident on Richard III.

[schnittkease]

It seems that this great composer doesn't receive much attention in here 

Or maybe his greatness is so assured that us GMGers have no inclination to state the obvious?

I'll be giving this a listen:

[asin]B00TKG6X2O[/asin]

(not breaking any new ground, clearly...)

[SymphonicAddict]

Or maybe his greatness is so assured that us GMGers have no inclination to state the obvious?

I'll be giving this a listen:

[asin]B00TKG6X2O[/asin]

(not breaking any new ground, clearly...)

Point taken 

Those quartets are quite deep. The tinnitus fragment in the SQ 1-4th movement gives me shivers. A work written from the soul.