Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Performer: Josef Suk, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0100
Release: 2010
Size: 225 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Zigeunermelodien, Op. 55, B. 104 (arr. J. Suk)
01. No. 1. Mein Lied ertont, ein Liebespsalm (I chant my lay, a hymn of love)
02. No. 2. Ei, wie mein Triangel wunderherrlich lautet (Hark, how my triangle)
03. No. 3. Rings ist der Wald so stumm und still (Silent and lone the woods around)
04. No. 4. Als die alte Mutter (Songs My Mother Taught Me)
05. No. 5. Reingestimmt die Saiten (Tune the strings, oh gypsy)
06. No. 6. In dem weiten, breiten, luft’gen Leinenkleide (In his wide and ample, airy linen vesture)
07. No. 7. Horstet hoch der Habicht auf den Felsenhohen (Cloudy hieghts of Tatra)
In Folk Tone, Op. 73, B. 146 (arr. J. Suk)
08. No. 1. Dobru noc, ma mila (Good-night, my darling)
09. No. 3. Ach, neni, neni tu, co by me tesilo (There is nothing here to comfort me)
Love Songs, Op. 83, B. 160 (arr. J. Suk)
10. No. 1. O nasi lasce (About Our Love)
11. No. 2. V tak mnohem (From the Heart)
12. No. 3. Kol domu (The House)
13. No. 4. Ja vim (Hope)
14. No. 5. Nad krajem vevodi (The May Night)
15. No. 6. Zde V Lese U Potoka (By the Stream)
16. No. 7. V Te Sladke Moci (The Enchantment)
17. No. 8. O duse draha (The Singing Swan)
4 Lieder, Op. 82, B. 157
18. No. 1. Lasst mich allein (Leave Me Alone) (arr. J. Suk)
19. Lullaby, B. 194 (arr. J. Suk)
10 Biblical Songs, Op. 99, B. 185 (arr. J. Suk)
20. No. 1. Oblak a mrakota jest vukol Neho (Clouds and Darkness)
21. No. 2. Skryse ma a paveza ma Ty jsi (Thou art my hiding-place)
22. No. 3. Slys, o Boze, slys modlitbu mou (Give ear to my prayer)
23. No. 4. Hospodin jest muj pastyr (The Lord is my shepherd)
24. No. 5. Boze! Boze! Pisen novou (I will sing a new song)
25. No. 6. Slys, o Boze, volani me (Hear my cry)
26. No. 7. Pri rekach babylonskych (By the rivers of Babylon)
27. No. 8. Popatriz na mne a smiluj se nade mnou (Turn thee unto me)
28. No. 9. Pozdvihuji oci svych k horam (I will lift up mine eyes)
29. No. 10. Zpivejte Hospodinu pisen novou (O sing unto the Lord a new song)
30. Moravian Duets, Op. 32, B. 62: No. 11. Zajata (The Maid Imprisoned) (arr. J. Suk)
Two of world’s greatest musicians appear together – for the first time anywhere – on Toccata Classics, playing an hour of ‘new’ Dvorák. Josef Suk – the great-grandson of Antonín Dvorák – undertook these transcriptions of 30 Dvorák songs at the suggestion of Martin Anderson of Toccata Classics. Josef Suk had Dvorák’s own viola restored for the recording sessions, which took place in Prague at the beginning of September. Suk’s transcriptions turn the songs into exquisitely beautiful instrumental miniatures.
Here’s a little curiosity pairing Dvorák’s great-grandson, the octogenarian Josef Suk III, with the only somewhat younger Vladimir Ashkenazy in arrangements for violin or viola (or both) and piano of Dvorák’s songs. The project originated not with either of those giants but with Toccata label executive Martin Anderson, whose expressed goal was apparently to promote awareness of the composer’s historically neglected songs. This neglect may be due to the general lack of familiarity with the Czech language; perhaps, the thinking went, nonverbal versions of the songs would help to put them across. Even if this idea does not fully succeed, there’s a certain gentle charm in the entire enterprise, and annotator Tully Potter (the notes are in English only) notes that Dvorák, who arranged some of these songs for string quartet, would probably not have objected to it. And indeed the opening Gypsy Songs, Op. 55, which are less gypsy-like even than Brahms’ related pieces, and the Love Songs, Op. 83, work well as violin-and-piano pieces, with numerous good examples of Dvorák’s melodic gift beyond the well-known Songs My Mother Taught Me, track 4. The centerpiece of the program is less convincing, perhaps because one badly wants it to succeed: the Biblical Songs, Op. 99, are masterpieces of Dvorák’s American period and arguably some of the greatest hidden gems of the entire art song repertory. The prayerful, pause-filled idiom of these pieces does not transfer so well to the viola and a wan quality to the sound also impedes these performances. The lover of Czech music, however, will generally be pleased with this unusual item.