This is a handy box
because some of the symphonic poems
and overtures are, frankly, works more
honoured in the breach than in the hearing.
The programmatic ballads are very tricky
to programme in concert – too long with
a concerto in the first half and unwieldy
in the second where one would expect
a symphony. Ideally one needs an old
Proms concert, maybe even a three-part
concert with two intervals where The
Golden Spinning Wheel, say, would fit
more comfortably. When did you last
hear it in concert?
On disc it’s a different
matter. Kudos
then to the Kuchar-Brilliant team, though
geographical homework is necessary for
this Dutch company; the resident Janáček
Philharmonic Orchestra will be amazed
to find that their hometown, Ostrava,
is in Slovenia. Mind you it’s one better
than the American company that
located Prague in the Balkans. Trivia
aside this is a thoroughly engaging
and spry set. Kuchar has shown in his
Russian repertoire that he is a thoroughly
sensitive musician and when he goes
further afield (e.g. Roy Harris, on
Naxos) the
results have been splendid. If his Dvořák
isn’t quite so special then that’s probably
because there are a raft of recordings,
present and, particularly, past against
which these performances must be measured.
Here are a few pointers
to Kuchar’s way with this body of work.
He tends to be brisk; not businesslike,
if that implies superficiality and a
lack of warmth and detail, but certainly
fast-ish. My Home is despatched
in 8.57, which is by no means remorseless
but when Kertesz and, especially, Krombholc
take that bit longer (the latter 9.40
and he’s only slightly broader than
the Hungarian) the result tells in weight
and stirring peroration. In truth Kuchar
does sound just that bit lightweight
alongside the Czech conductor, who scores
in gravity and depth. In the same vein
the Hussite Overture lacks that vein
of sprung rhythm that gives such life
to Kertesz’s disc - and the brass drowning
the strings doesn’t help much either.
In Nature’s Realm is inscribed
with real sensitivity and burnishing
life by Krombholc and Kuchar’s worthy
performance does rather pale. That there
are a wide variety of approaches can
be shown by the 1948 Talich; the great
conductor is considerably slower than
almost everyone on record. As indeed
he is in Othello – where he takes
sixteen and a half minutes to Kuchar’s
fourteen – the sagacious Krombholc is
somewhere in the middle. Here Kuchar’s
linear approach scores in cohesion but
somewhat undercooks the drama, the brooding
intensity of which Talich elongates
to intense effect.
It would be rather
wearying to delve too deeply into the
specificities of these performances
but I should add that Carnival
is fast, and a tiny bit slick if one
compares him with Ančerl.
Kuchar’s Water Goblin
takes Talich’s spriteliness (in both
1949, where he’s fast and 1954 where’s
he slows considerably but is in poorer
and live sound). The Noon-Day Witch
is perfectly serviceable but listen
to Talich or Kertesz and you’ll hear
a greater weight of string tone and
a caressing intimacy of phrasing and
a degree of rhythmic intensity that
rather elude Kuchar and his team. Talich
shows the way with the Wood Dove,
sometimes called Wild Dove [Holoubek]
– he’s a shade quicker and more insidious
and mocking. The Golden Spinning
Wheel has a good sense of rustic
drama and the Symphonic Variations is
generally well shaped.
Those looking for a
handy introduction should go to someone
I’ve not yet mentioned – Kubelík’s
Bavarian recordings re-released on DG
Trio - supplemented by the Kertesz Deccas
(I’m not always an uncritical admirer
of his symphonic cycle but the "fillers"
are good) and then the Talich and Ancerl
recordings. You’ll find the old Krombholc
a bit tricky to track down but you won’t
regret the effort.
Jonathan Woolf
Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra/Theodore
Kuchar 
