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Miloslav Kabeláč (1908-1979) - Complete Symphonies

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Author Topic: Miloslav Kabeláč (1908-1979) - Complete Symphonies  (Read 1256 times)
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M. Yaskovsky
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« on: July 09, 2016, 09:50:35 pm »

Very interesting release IMHO http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Supraphon/SU42022
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2016, 12:05:53 am »

What wonderful news :)

I have often wondered why Supraphon seemed to have given up on recording more 20th century Czech music.........and now we get the complete Kabelac! My only slight regret is that they have recorded all eight symphonies but have not added 'The Mystery of Time' as an appendix, so to speak. That glorious work really does need a modern recording-although any such recording would also have to attempt to match Karel Ancerl's blazingly intense and grippingly powerful account from the late 1950s.
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cilgwyn
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« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2016, 12:19:10 am »

What can I say? Wow! Not an exactly deep intellectual reaction;but that is extremely surprising in this age of multiple recordings of the incredibly predictable.......and good for Supraphon,I say!!
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Elroel
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« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2016, 10:07:51 am »

That is a very important release, in my eyes!! I ordered the set right away

Although I have most of this symphonies in my collection, here we have all the symphonies in cd quality.

Thanks Supraphon
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Jeff
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« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2016, 12:08:16 pm »

There is a 2014 recording of 'The Mystery of Time' on youtube by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2016, 11:03:52 pm »

There is a 2014 recording of 'The Mystery of Time' on youtube by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Yes.....and a very fine performance it is too.
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Expi
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« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2016, 10:37:52 am »

in my eyes a completely uninterresting release. i own 3 of this composers symphonies and this is uninspirated and unpersonal music. anyway, some people need to have all symphonies of any composers and seems those people are all gathered here  ;D
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Here is a short list of relevant british composers:
M. Yaskovsky
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« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2016, 03:22:11 pm »

'in my eyes a completely uninterresting release.' I hope you'd give some more motivation............
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guest128
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« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2016, 08:49:27 pm »

in my eyes a completely uninterresting release. i own 3 of this composers symphonies and this is uninspirated and unpersonal music. anyway, some people need to have all symphonies of any composers and seems those people are all gathered here  ;D

While "completely uninteresting" may be too sweeping, I won't myself be in a rush to acquire this set before critical opinion weighs in with some measure of its quality.  "Mystery of Time" is indeed a compelling work, and the one of Kabelac's Symphonies I'm familiar with (No.5) engaging if not exceptional.  But the idiosyncratic scoring for most of this collection makes me wary, and wondering if they truly come off as genuine Symphonies or merely oddball combinations of effects that however innovatively provocative at the time may not hold up as enduring creations.  Can anyone here having heard the previous recordings offer an Expi-extra judgment?


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Dundonnell
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« Reply #9 on: July 12, 2016, 02:18:56 pm »

It is quite true to observe that Kabelac's eight symphonies are written for a very diverse combination of orchestral forces but I would be relucant to call those "oddball".

I am fortunate enough to have one Kabelac symphony (the 5th) on cd but all the others in off-air recordings kindly provided by an enthusiast. Those symphonies came into my collection relatively recently and I will be entirely honest in admitting (what you have long guessed ;D) that I have not actually found the time yet to listen to them properly.
Kabelac was an interesting composer and 'The Mystery of Time' is one of my all-time favourite works.....but I doubt whether he was a 'great composer'. A case could certainly be made for Supraphon recording the symphonies of a number of his near contemporaries. One thinks of composers like Isa Krejci (b. 1904-4 symphonies but only one on cd), Vaclav Dobias(b. 1909), Jan Kapr (b. 1914; 10 symphonies none on cd), Jan Hanus (b. 1915; 7 symphonies only one on cd), Jiri Valek (b.1923-17 symphonies none on cd) or Jindrich Feld (b.1925-3 symphonies one on cd). Many of these can be downloaded from this site.

However it seems to me that if Supraphon is finally branching out from the familiar repertoire on which it has concentrated in recent times then it really should be looking at the later music of that near contemporary of Josef Suk-Vitezslav Novak. Most of Novak' early, richly romantic music has been recorded but very little of the music he wrote between 1910 and his death in 1949. It is quite extraordinary that we do not have recordings of his two major late symphonies-the Autumn Symphony for chorus and orchestra of 1934 and the May Symphony for soloists, chorus and orchestra of 1943. The dedication of the May Symphony to Josef Stalin should not blind us to its musical merits.
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Elroel
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« Reply #10 on: July 12, 2016, 03:49:24 pm »

As I expressed earlier I am glad that Kabelac's symphonies appear on cd now.

I agree with Colin that it'is regrettable that the symphonies he mentions are not.
Válek, btw, wrote 19 symphonies. Only his 10th (Baroque) and 12th are (or were) available on cd.

More info: musicbase.cz
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Grandenorm
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« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2016, 04:42:34 pm »

Quote
It is quite extraordinary that we do not have recordings of his two major late symphonies-the Autumn Symphony for chorus and orchestra of 1934 and the May Symphony for soloists, chorus and orchestra of 1943.

I agree it's a great shame we lack recordings of these two important major works by Novak. But it may be that Supraphon are reluctant to undertake what would be two expensive recording projects - chorus, soloists (in the case of the "May" symphony) and large orchestras for both.
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2016, 05:16:30 pm »

As I expressed earlier I am glad that Kabelac's symphonies appear on cd now.

I agree with Colin that it'is regrettable that the symphonies he mentions are not.
Válek, btw, wrote 19 symphonies. Only his 10th (Baroque) and 12th are (or were) available on cd.

More info: musicbase.cz
.
I count 17 numbered symphonies from 1948 until 1992 plus a Sinfonietta(1945).
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Holger
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« Reply #13 on: July 12, 2016, 09:16:07 pm »

Actually, as a footnote, I once did some research on Válek's symphonies myself and found out the total number of his symphonies is even 20. Here are the last ones (on which information is scarce as they do not appear in many sources):

Symphony No. 17 "Hradčanská Station", Symphony-Opera on Words by Anatole France and the composer for Nine Soloists, Two Mixed Choir and Orchestra (1992)
Symphony No. 18 "Alternative - For Ten Years of Velvet Revolution" on Words by Karel Havlíček Borovský and folk texts for Baritone, Children's Chorus and Chamber Orchestra (1999)
Symphony No. 19 "The Garden of Dreams - In memory of natural and human catastrophes at the turn of the third millenium and the entry of ten nations into the European Union" on Japanese Poetry for Mezzo Soprano, Baritone and Chamber Orchestra (2003)
Symphony No. 20 (2004)
Válek also arranged one movement of his last symphony for chamber ensemble: "Joy - Satisfaction!", final movement of Symphony No. 20 for Flute, Trumpet, Violin, Percussion Instruments and Two Pianos (or Four Hands Piano?) (2004)

I don't think Válek got many performances in his final years, so that I would not be surprised if his last symphonies have never been played so far (but I don't know for sure).
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #14 on: July 13, 2016, 01:43:22 am »

Thanks for this information, Holger :)
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