Ma Vlast

[Robert]

Too bad i can't buy that BSO/Kubelik recording here anymore. My teacher has it and it was the first time i listened through the whole cycle, reading the score at the same time! (With a pair of great Philips headphones) How exciting i remembered!

Howard

Howard
What type of headphones were they? (in ear) or open or closed type....

[S709]

Antoni Wit: Polish National Radio S.O. - Naxos 8.550931

Just listened to this version today! It was very 'inspiring', as cliché as that sounds...

[hautbois]

Howard
What type of headphones were they? (in ear) or open or closed type....

How do you define open or close? It was a rather huge pair in black which was meant to cover the ears.

Howard

[Harry]

How do you define open or close? It was a rather huge pair in black which was meant to cover the ears.

Howard

What Robert meant was, if they were closed headphones, you would not hear outside noise around you coming in.
Open one means that you do!

O, yes the inears phones are those tiny ones you get with Ipod or other portable devices.

[Grazioso]

The Wit version on Naxos is a real winner, and the price is certainly right.

[hautbois]

What Robert meant was, if they were closed headphones, you would not hear outside noise around you coming in.
Open one means that you do!

O, yes the inears phones are those tiny ones you get with Ipod or other portable devices.

They were definitely close and not inear. But i wouldnt be too exact about that, the room was quite silent itself. Haha...

[Brian]

Antoni Wit: Polish National Radio S.O. - Naxos 8.550931

Wit's performance

The Ma Vlast from Antony Wit, was well received by critics alike, and I found much favour in it!
So its a good investment!

I bought the Antoni Wit at less than US$6 and what a great performance, the sonics are a bit fake because of the big inner reverb and the orchestra is not the best in the world, but boy does this satisfy.

Just listened to the Wit version today! It was very 'inspiring', as cliché as that sounds...

The Wit version on Naxos is a real winner, and the price is certainly right.

I hate to revive a two-year-old thread like this, but felt it's worth the bump. Every year, the celebrated Prague Spring International Music Festival opens with a performance of "Ma Vlast" on the anniversary of Bedrich Smetana's death (May 12). The conductor chosen to do the honors this year is Antoni Wit, who will be leading the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. A well-deserved honor!

[mahler10th]

What is all this?
Kubelik is the man.  If Kubelik was still alive Wit would have to play second fiddle.  I have so far found it impossible to find anything that surpasses what Kubelik did with Ma Vlast.

[flyingdutchman]

What is all this?
Kubelik is the man.  If Kubelik was still alive Wit would have to play second fiddle.  I have so far found it impossible to find anything that surpasses what Kubelik did with Ma Vlast.

Yes, but which one?

[Harry]

What is all this?
Kubelik is the man.  If Kubelik was still alive Wit would have to play second fiddle.  I have so far found it impossible to find anything that surpasses what Kubelik did with Ma Vlast.

That is quite a bold statement John.
Kubelik is very good in this repertoire, I would be the last to deny that, but Antoni Wit has a view that holds ground too, in the light of Kubelik.
So no second fiddle I am afraid, but rather a equal partner in the jungle of interpretations.

[Lethevich]

I'd take Wit any day over most of Kubelik's Ma Vlasts - especially the 50s WP, which was useless.

[hildegard]

What is all this?
Kubelik is the man.  If Kubelik was still alive Wit would have to play second fiddle.  I have so far found it impossible to find anything that surpasses what Kubelik did with Ma Vlast.

Yes, but which one?

This one, which marked Kubelik's return to Czechoslovakia after a 40-year absence, IMO, is unsurpassed. It was both a historical and passionate event, which comes through clearly in this performance.



It is also quite an experience to see and hear this performed live, as I did a few months ago. Although performed by a student group, the emotion this piece elicits was so palpable, particulary from the largely Czech community who attended. I could not help but wonder if any of them might have been at Kubelik's performance at that historic moment.

Smetana's Má Vlast

April 30th, Bohemian National Hall, NYC

"The Aaron Copland School of Music Orchestra under the direction of Maurice Peress presents a rare performance of Bedrich Smetana's Má Vlast (My Country).

"Smetana, 'the father of Czechish music,' set out to create a body of works that celebrated the natural landscapes, history, native language, as well as the folk legends of Bohemia and Moravia and the people's struggle for independence. In 1874, just as he was becoming deaf, Smetana began work on what would become a monumental cycle of six symphonic poems; Vyšehrad  Vltava, Šárka, Z ceských luhu a háju (From Bohemian Woods and Groves), Tábor and Blaník.  Heard as a whole for the first time in 1882, Má Vlast was immediately acclaimed by the native musical public as representative of Czech National style. Smetana dedicated the cycle to the city of Prague where Maestro Peress had the honor of conducting the work with the Brno Orchestra." dvoraknyc.org


karadar.com

[Harry]

This one, which marked Kubelik's return to Czechoslovakia after a 40-year absence, IMO, is unsurpassed. It was both a historical and passionate event, which comes through clearly in this performance.

Dear Hildegard, nobody is denying that, but this is a question about a second fiddle!

[Brian]

I don't doubt that, if Rafael Kubelik were still alive, he'd be one of the very best Smetana interpreters. But that's just not the point. I was pointing out that Antoni Wit, who, on the evidence of a now 20-year-old recording is one of the best Ma Vlast conductors around today, is getting recognized as such. 

[DarkAngel]

I love Ma Vlast........

The Wit/Naxos is a very good new version with modern sound as is the Harnoncourt/RCA, but for me the best
versions are older. Kubelik/CSO/Mercury is my favorite of Kubelik's and one of the very best ever recorded in good mono sound, a young mans view of the work full of energy and optimism, the final Kubelik/Supraphon is an old mans view of the same material.......more reflective and slower, a touch of melancholy. Which one you prefer depends on your outlook on life, very different overall moods of the work

The other older Czech conductors also have very strong versions I prefer over Wit:
Ancerl
Talich
Smetacek
Neumann

Truth be told there are many very good versions fortunately, if I could only keep three:

[Classical Review]

Thrilled to see Brian, Tony and others throwing their weight behind Wit's interpretation. I wouldn't claim to be widely familiar with the many fine recordings of this work, but I will say that of the four or five I've heard, none has matched Wit's for the sheer magic, poetry and evocation of nature in orchestral sound that he achieves at the start of Vltava.

FK

[hildegard]

This one, which marked Kubelik's return to Czechoslovakia after a 40-year absence, IMO, is unsurpassed. It was both a historical and passionate event, which comes through clearly in this performance.

Dear Hildegard, nobody is denying that, but this is a question about a second fiddle!

But I was responding to *Jo Jo's* question about which Kubelik, Harry!   

[Renfield]

Let me just note that I would be happy to keep only one 'Ma Vlast', if it could be this one. There are, of course, many other versions of comparable merit, but Talich's just feels right to me, authoritative without losing either tenderness or 'magic'.

[DarkAngel]

Very nice of Supraphon to release special remastered gold editions of Ancerl and Talich catalogs at reduced price!  

The Talich/CPO is a 1954 mono recording with good studio sound, nice booklet with interesting background info about Talich WWII experiences and subsequent communist control of eastern europe which took heavy toll on Talich..........makes point of the special relevance of publically performing or recording  "my country" under such severe circumstances

[Harry]

But I was responding to *Jo Jo's* question about which Kubelik, Harry!   

Och, I knew that, only wanted to tease you a little bit.......