MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


alternatively AmazonUK

Leos JANÁČEK (1854-1928)
Sinfonietta (1926) [22.57]
Taras Bulba, rhapsody for orchestra (1915-1918) [21.55]
The Cunning Little Vixen: suite (1921-1923) [16.30]
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra/Jonathan Nott
rec. Joseph-Keilberth-Saal, Bamberg, Germany; 25-28 October 2004. DDD.
Co-production with Bavarian Radio, Munich
TUDOR 7135 [61.42]


A good set of interpretations but too literal and lacking the atmosphere of the greatest recordings.

I have found Jonathan Nott’s Schubert recordings with the Bamberg Symphony rather lacklustre, and have often been puzzled by the positive critical opinion lauded upon them. Few such feelings exist with this disc, however.
 
When heard on a standard CD player, the brass in the opening Fanfare of Janáček’s Sinfonietta are fulsome in their creation of the right atmosphere. Nott does not blast the listener with the brass as other conductors, notably Sir Charles Mackerras, have done in the past. To my way of thinking that makes Nott’s recording all the stronger. The ensuing Andante/Allegro is tensely argued yet the orchestral lines remain clear and with body throughout. The third movement Moderato starts with a suitably airy ambience being created, capturing the delicacy of much that is contained in Janáček’s writing, though a near-military feel is present in some contributions made by the brass. The fourth movement Allegretto is a sequence of carefully graded dynamics, which prove somewhat effective. The closing Andante con moto/Allegretto sees a gradual build-up of tension and an eventual return to the opening fanfares of the work.
 
Overall, as a reading I find that something just does not add up to the sum achieved by Mackerras on Decca or Kubelik on DG. Kubelik’s recording of Taras Bulba also holds its own against the more brilliantly recorded version that Nott conducts. The tension in Kubelik’s recording is arguably heightened by the relative age of his recording, though the sound was good for its time and is still respectable. Tudor’s engineering for Nott seems too literal whereas Kubelik achieves more through suggestion in this death-filled orchestral rhapsody.
 
The comparative rarity here is The Cunning Little Vixen suite, as arranged by Frantisek Jilek, rather than the later suite arranged by Talich, taking material from the middle of Act I, Act II including the Vixen’s entrance, and Act III’s first “transformation”. It makes for a sequence that fuses the feeling for nature with rather grander overtones, and it is this last aspect in which the Bamberg players excel to bring both the suite and the disc to an involving conclusion. The music is well supported by informative notes from Walter Labhart.
 
Evan Dickerson
 



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index