Six favourite works by Czech/Slovak composers.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Difficult question - I believe the work's obscurity is because of its rarity on record, rather than vice versa. There is a Chandos recording with all-Russian forces who are simply too Russian; the singers in particular are distractly unidiomatic. Zdenek Macal recorded the piece with the New Jersey Symphony, enthusiastic but far from first-rate; Helmuth Rilling and the Bach Collegium Stuttgart is the recording I return to most, even if one can imagine a more "Czech" reading. I have not heard Vaclav Neumann on Supraphon, nor Robert Shaw on Telarc.

I've been fortunate to see it live twice (Tomas Netopil & Dallas Symphony, Neeme Jarvi & London Symphony).

Neumann is generally reliable. I see a few on YouTube too; let me know what you think.

[Brian]

Neumann is generally reliable. I see a few on YouTube too; let me know what you think.

I'm not at all a fan of the soprano, but of the YouTube posts, Smetacek is the best option. In general the first 30-40 seconds are a great measure of a performance: how much do they make you feel the rhythmic pile-up at the very start? The more that the chorus & orchestral sections seem to be on completely different pages, the more I appreciate the inventiveness of the writing. From the other YouTube videos, Harnoncourt especially goes too slowly for the unexpected beats and cross-rhythms to have an effect.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I'm not at all a fan of the soprano, but of the YouTube posts, Smetacek is the best option. In general the first 30-40 seconds are a great measure of a performance: how much do they make you feel the rhythmic pile-up at the very start? The more that the chorus & orchestral sections seem to be on completely different pages, the more I appreciate the inventiveness of the writing. From the other YouTube videos, Harnoncourt especially goes too slowly for the unexpected beats and cross-rhythms to have an effect.

Rilling just arrived in today's mail. Your review of Harnoncourt does not surprise.

[Karl Henning]

Brian, what did you think of Shaw's Te Deum?