DVOŘÁK Saint Ludmilla (Svárovský)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Antonín Dvořák
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Naxos
Magazine Review Date: 07/2019
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 101
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 574023/4
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
St. Ludmilla |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Adriana Kohútková, Ludmilla, Soprano Antonín Dvořák, Composer Karla Bytnarova, Svatava, Alto Leos Svárovský, Conductor Ondrej Šaling, Peasant, Tenor Peter Mikulás, Ivan, Bass Slovak Philharmonic Chorus Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra Tomás Cerny, Borivoj, Tenor |
Author: Peter Quantrill
Dvořák had no place for the malevolent Drahomira, however, nor her son, the good king Wenceslas. Seeking to top the success of the Stabat mater with a more local expression of piety, at a time when the Austrian police had banned the singing of Czech songs following political disturbances in 1884, he wrote to his publisher Simrock that ‘an artist also has a country for which he must have firm faith and a fervent heart’.
Even the well-disposed reviewer of The Musical Times observed at the premiere that the composer/conductor had treated his theme ‘at very considerable length’. Dvořák shortened and revised St Ludmila for a staged version, and almost every modern performance has taken his lead, especially in the baptismal pageantry of the third and final part. None so drastically as Leoš Svárovský, however, whose concert performance in 2015 lops off an hour of music. Almost all the recitative is cut, compromising what little dramatic momentum Dvořák managed to sustain in between Handelian slabs of choral work. Svárovský has been even more ruthless than the late Jiří Bělohlávek, who directed the piece live several times, including a Czech Philharmonic performance released by Arco Diva (6/06).
Further comparisons are not flattering to the newcomer. Tubby recorded sound captures a little stage and audience noise but does no favours to the inner parts of the hard-working and sometimes overstretched chorus. Peter Mikuláš lacks neither presence nor experience in declaiming what little is left of the Wolfram-like part for Ivan, the hermit who prompts Ludmila’s conversion, but he was in much better voice for Bělohlávek in 2004. Inclined to shrillness in the heat of the moment, Adriana Kohútková brings affecting simplicity to the title-role and the other soloists form a strong team.
While this is a record magazine, I would be failing in my duty if I did not draw your attention to a film of the work’s most recent native performance. Available on YouTube, it was recorded in Prague’s Rudolfinum in September 2018 (on the eve of St Ludmila’s name day), graced with a luminous and captivating account of the title-role by Kateřina Kněžíková, and directed with a persuasive sweep and conviction by Jakub Hrůša, who makes no apologies for presenting the piece complete, flaws and all.
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