Despite the disc’s
title this is not, of course, a previously undiscovered example
of Dvořák’s Album für Jugend. As Tomáš Víšek’s introductory
paragraph makes clear, in his address to young pianists, these
are pieces selected to be within the grasp of the young player
and to suggest, through encountering them, other pieces from amongst
the composer’s considerable oeuvre that he can pursue and play.
Recent times have
seen a welcome number of recordings of the solo piano works and
there have indeed been a least two traversals of the complete
(or almost complete) set, on Naxos and Brilliant and both have
been reviewed on this site. This Rosa Classic disc dips into the
complete works, a selection process that must also surely reflect
Víšek’s own interests and enthusiasms, especially for the Silhouettes
and the Minuets. One should also note that he has personally
finished the previously incomplete Legend as well as the
Presto in E minor (in world premiere recordings)
and reconstructed the Presto in E flat major (similarly
in a world premiere recording, as is the Forget-Me-Not-Polka.)
Throughout we are
no doubt as to his understanding of these miniatures to which
he brings warmth of tone and a realism as regards their compact
and lyrical status. He never seeks to inflate them, for example,
above their natural state either through over pedalling or grandiose
tone. In fact he plays the little Album Leaf in G minor
with Chopinesque delicacy – surely rightly given the clear influence
– and the Téma with delicate nobility: it was written for
conservatoire students to write variations on. The Schubertian
evocations in the second of the Two Little Pearls are nicely
touched upon, whilst listeners will recognise the main motif of
the First Symphony in the first of the Silhouettes.
Víšek proves a splendid
advocate of the Humoresque in F sharp minor – the musical
box delights and faux brave brio of which are enchantingly Schumannesque.
No less so in the Poetic Tone Pictures, of which he plays
four of thirteen. He’s especially successful in the Serenade
– warmly done. The Presto in E flat major will be better
known as one of Slavonic Dances – No.8 from Op.46 but even he
can’t quite minimise the longeurs of the Eclogue in E major
No.4.
Sound quality in the
Municipal Theatre, Turnov, is fine without quite being outstanding
and the notes, by the pianist himself, are very thorough and presented
in Czech, English and German.
In short this is a
most rewarding single disc selection for those unwilling to commit
to the complete works on disc.
Jonathan Woolf
AVAILABILITY
Rosa
Classic
e-mail: info@rosamusic.cz
Tomáš Víšek (piano)
