|
Classical Court From Perotin to Prokofiev (and beyond), performed by Caruso to Khatia, it's all here. |
|
|
|
Classical Court From Perotin to Prokofiev (and beyond), performed by Caruso to Khatia, it's all here. |
|
I've mostly been impressed with Jakub Hrusa's conducting so far - he made a terrific contribution to the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in babe violinist Nicola Benedetti's DG recording of that work. Of course, he had the full forces of the CzPO at his disposal on that recording, and the DG Tonmeisters were on their best behavior too. I also heard his Supraphon recording of Smetana's Ma Vlast with his Prague Philharmonia Orchestra, which seems to be a chamber orchestra, based on the sound I hear on its recordings. Hrusa used these reduced forces to his advantage by highlighting some unusual lyricism in the score and unusual balances, rather than belting things out, as some conductors do (leading to the unfortunate and mistaken English translation of the work sometimes encountered as "My Blast"!). ;-)In two of the three Pentatone SACD's I obtained recently, Hrusa uses the Prague Philharmonia again, and tries similarly mild-mannered approaches with the music of Dvorak, this time with more variable results. He gets the best results on his album of the Symphonic Variations and the (3) Slavonic Rhapsodies - textures are clear and a couple of interesting details are unearthed. But even here, I feel that the strings do not always have the tonal heft to maintain the music's line and intensity when the string section alternates with the winds and brass, or when the winds or brass double the strings. I miss them much more than I did in the Supraphon Ma Vlast recording! Still, these interpretations are not bad if you want a less insistent approach to the music - I just feel that the music needs more oomph in places.
In the other Dvorak album consisting of the "Nature, Life, and Love" Concert Overtures, as well as the My Home and Hussite Overtures, there are what I would suggest are gaucheries starting off with the first overture, the magical "In Nature's Realm". This work starts with a series of repeated and detached double bass notes (together with sustained bass clarinet and bassoon notes), which should be played pianissimo (nature emerging out of the void, as it were). In Hrusa's performance, the double basses sound too enthusiastic for this kind of evocativeness, and the poetic idea is perhaps missed. I remember when I first heard this wonderful music on an old Supraphon LP with Ancerl conducting the CzPO - I couldn't believe how beautiful it was! Of course, Hrusa enjoys fantastic (MCh) engineering, but, for me it was Ancerl who got closer to the poetic underpinnings of the music. This detail perhaps typifies some of the disappointment I feel throughout this album in Hrusa's interpretations. OTOH, the rabble-rousing Hussite Overture is way too controlled. (I remember Harris Goldsmith's High Fidelity review of the old Supraphon recording of this work - I think also conducted by Ancerl, although it could have been Chalabala - wherein he claimed that Ancerl conducted the work as if it were a Bohemian 1812! - Yes! That's exactly what it needs!)
This brings us to the Bartok/Kodaly "Concertos for Orchestrra" disc, where Hrusa leads the Berlin RSO (an orchestra with a full string section!). It's nice to hear the Kodaly work (written before the Bartok BTW) - at 16 and a half minutes, it's a compact, concentrated work, which makes an immediate appeal. Hrusa conducts both works with a lot of subtlety and atmosphere. I'd still like him to let things rip a bit more (like he did in his DG Tchaikovsky performance!). I notice that BBC Music Magazine notes that Hrusa's view of the Bartok is "decidedly serious" - fair enough, but I'd like some more color and abandon to go along with that seriousness too.
I still think the Hrusa is a promising conductor, and he seems to be getting all sorts of recording opportunities now (or recently!). Every one of these three albums shown is very good (and all are well engineered), but just as Hrusa's picture on the Dvorak Overtures album seems just a bit dorky, so too does his conducting seem just a bit too careful in this trio of releases.
Edits: 07/06/20
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Topic - Still MORE Pentatone SACD's from my BRO order - Jakub Hrusa conducts - Chris from Lafayette 00:21:03 07/06/20 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
