MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

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

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

REVIEW
Plain text for smartphones & printers


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

 

 

Support us financially by purchasing
this disc through MusicWeb
for £12 postage paid world-wide.

Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
String Quartet No. 1: Andante cantabile (1871, string orch. vers.) [6:33]
Variations on a Rococo Theme for 'Cello and Orchestra, Op. 33 (orig. vers., 1876) [19:45]*
Elegy for String Orchestra in G major (1884) [7:12]
Pezzo capriccioso for 'Cello and Orchestra, Op. 62 (orig. vers., 1887) [7:08]*
Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Sinfonietta, Op. 48 (1909/29) [21:22]
*Jiŕi Barta (cello)
Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Pardubice/Leoš Swárowský
rec. House of Music, Pardubice, August 2012
ARCODIVA UP 0145-2 131 [62:37]

The rise of Communism after World War II, artificially dividing Europe into "East" and "West," has obscured the fact that, historically, the Czech lands were considered part of "Central Europe" alongside Austria, with which they once shared an empire. Musically, strong Beethoven and Mozart performing traditions - traditions that the Czechs consider as valid as those of the Viennese - reflect this; so does the presence of numerous professional orchestras, not only in Prague and Brno, but in old industrial centres like Zlín and smaller university towns like Hradec Kralové.
 
It's no surprise then that, about sixty miles east of Prague, the city of Pardubice - population 89,552, if you can believe Wikipedia, and sometimes you can - fields a fine chamber orchestra. The woodwinds are polished and expert with no woolly-toned oboes or "sticking" clarinets. The strings are firm and unified, with lean, tapered individual strands of sound coalescing into a handsome ensemble sonority.
 
The Variations on a Rococo Theme are normally the province of full-sized orchestras: think the Philadelphia, for example, behind Leonard Rose (Sony), or the Berlin Philharmonic backing Rostropovich (DG). Here and in the lighter-spirited Pezzo capriccioso, everything registers with tonal weight and presence; you never feel that there aren't enough strings. Also the concertante interplay with the cello is effective. Jiŕi Barta’s medium-weight cello tone doesn't compare with the juicy sound of a Rostropovich - few do. However it's fuller than the nasal, treble-heavy sound of Lynn Harrell (Decca). He finds the appropriate style and mood for each of the Variations, and holds his own against the higher-profile competition. Only some of the "scrubbing" passagework in the Variations' finale seems to tax him.
 
The two string-orchestra pieces are luminous. The Andante cantabile, once a staple of old-fashioned "Music Appreciation" classes, is simple and lyrical, avoiding sentimentality. Leoš Swárowský's purposeful account of the less-familiar Elegy far outclasses Sergei Skripka's pretty but aimless version (Classic Talent). It’s sombre at the start and agitated in the middle section, with the agitation subsiding, if not quite resolving, at the close.
 
Prokofiev's Sinfonietta still seems to me inexplicably underexposed, on records as well as in the concert hall. The mood is playful. Even the stark textures of the Andante second movement don't long dispel the prevailing cheer. The Pardubice performance is lithe and buoyant. The playing of the strings has a burnished tone, which full, prominent woodwinds complement with vivid timbres and pointed articulation. A brief, slightly unbalanced patch at 4:58 in the first movement's quick coda and a few seconds of nervous ensemble in the finale's home stretch merely serve to point up the excellence of the performance as a whole.
 
The engineers have captured a clean, detailed orchestral image, which the generous ambience of the Pardubice House of Music enhances with a modicum of resonance. Nicely done.
 
Stephen Francis Vasta
Stephen Francis Vasta is a New York-based conductor, coach, and journalist.