The date of this recording,
1963, is indicative of the revival of
interest in the
1960s in this tremendous, but problematic
work. Ančerl’s performance is one
to treasure and many people will have
the original LPs. The work has appeared
on CD before, but this fine re-mastering
was done in 2002 for Supraphon’s Ančerl
Edition. The resulting sound
seems to have cleared up a few of the
original problems with the recorded
sound. The Glagolitic Mass is a tricky
work to record and to balance. This
performance is not ideally recorded,
but the present re-mastering has made
it more than acceptable.
Ančerl
encourages his forces to give a performance
of almost neurotic intensity. There
is little feel for Janáček’s wide
open spaces. This is very much a nervous,
tense reading heightened by the Slavic
cast of all the solo voices.
The Czech Philharmonic
are on
fine form and were recorded at a time
when they were not only at their peak
but also still made a distinctively
Czech sound. The strings are very focused
… almost wiry. It does not lack warmth
but communicates the rather neurotic
nature of Janáček’s orchestral
writing. The strings are matched by
the brass and woodwind, all of whom
combine admirable flexibility with a
distinctive tangy sound.
Unfortunately, the
problems occur when the singers start.
None of them is ideally relaxed in timbre.
For the opening Kyrie, the soprano,
Libuse Domaninska is suitably intense.
But her strong tone with its distinctive
vibrato means that she never really
produces a relaxed sound and this is
rather limiting. This lack of smooth
focus in her voice shows again in the
opening
of the Gloria. The chorus make a fine,
strong noise and generally give a committed
performance. Their accuracy, though,
does not always match the standard of
the orchestra. Janáček’s writing,
with its patchwork of motives and instrumental
lines, means that the chorus
have a number of tricky entries which
are almost of a throwaway nature. Such
moments include the Laudamus te in the
Gloria, where the chorus remain committed
but are distinctly untidy. Tenor, Beno
Blachut, is strong if stentorian in
the Qui sedes. This rather reflects
his whole performance which is characterised
by a strong vibrato and an unwillingness
to sing quietly. But there again, Janáček’s
writing for the tenor soloist can be
pretty unforgiving.
Ančerl
takes the opening of the Credo rather
slower than I have been used to. Here
Blachut comes into its own as he gives
fine dramatic weight to his long solo.
After a long build up in the orchestral
interlude, the chorus’s Crucifixus is
taken at a remarkably steady tempo –
this is another of those rather tricky
moments for the chorus. Rather unworthily,
I wondered whether Ančerl had relaxed
the tempo to make things a little easier
for his singers. The subsequent
passage stays at this steady tempo and
I thought that the chorus rather lost
intensity. But the final climax is tremendous.
In the opening of the
Sanctus, the strain shows on the soloists
as all of them have trouble producing
a clean, smooth, quiet line. Bass Eduard
Haken develops such a wide vibrato that
it really ought to be called a wobble.
Jaroslav Vodrazka gives a fine performance
of the extensive organ part, but there
were moments where I would dearly have
liked more organ sound in the orchestral
balance.
For all its problems,
this is a tremendous performance that
sweeps you away in its sheer commitment.
Add to this the desirability of hearing
this work performed by all-Czech forces
and you have a very good reason for
acquiring it. On this disc you also
have the advantage of getting Ančerl’s
fine recording of Taras Bulba, also
dating from 1961. If the orchestral
sound is not quite as warm as I would
like, it suits Ančerl’s nervous
tense reading.
This disc is unlikely
to be your library choice, but its many
virtues make it a desirable also-ran.
Robert Hugill
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Karel Ancerl
