Josef Bohuslav Foerster - Cyrano de Bergerac; Shakespeare Suite (Václav Smetáček)

Information

Composer: Josef Bohuslav Foerster

• Cyrano de Bergerac, Op. 55
• Shakespeare Suite, Op. 76

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Prague Symphony Orchestra

Václav Smetáček, conductor

Date: 1996

Label: Supraphon

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Review

A man of wide artistic tastes and talents, Foerster was more than once captivated by the idea of setting dramatic ideas or portraits to music. Rostand's Cyrano touched him for the hero's predicament as he woos Roxane on another's behalf; the involvement with Shakespeare was more complicated. The brief note for this record says little, but Foerster's sympathetic autobiography Der Pilger (published in 1955, after his death) describes how he imagined it first as a sequence portraying Imogen, Cordelia, Hamlet, Lear and Shylock. Then he bethought him of Perdita, and touched by her 'winter's tale' he found his characters forming themselves into a new pattern in which music (he invokes Schopenhauer) might express the inner nature of four aspects of love. Perdita remains the most vivid characterization of the four: she is lively, and forlorn yet merry. The others are Viola, a warm portrayal in rich orchestral garb, then Lady Macbeth, whose corrosion of love perhaps lies too far outside the experience of this gentle composer, and finally a movement entitled ''Katherine, Petruchio and Eros'', cheerfully rounding off an agreeable and expertly composed work.

The Cyrano de Bergerac suite is rather less original, though Foerster's warm, late-romantic manner is affectingly deployed: there is something of Elgar, of Mahler, of Strauss, to name obvious names, but though Foerster is of their world, he is no imitator. Listeners who feel at home in such a world and who know nothing of Foerster might like to try this record. It will produce no revelations, but music that is this sympathetic and well-made is not so common that we can afford to ignore it. It is excellently played here, and warmly recorded.'

-- John Warrack, Gramophone

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Josef Bohuslav Foerster (30 December 1859 – 29 May 1951) was a Czech composer and musicologist. Born and educated in Prague, he produced numerous compositions, but his music is not nationalistic in the sense of employing the idioms of Czech folk music. Foerster's compositions include five symphonies, other orchestral works including a symphonic poem based on Cyrano de Bergerac, much chamber music, at least five operas, concertos for cello and violin, and liturgical music, among other works, over 170 published opus numbers in all. Many of his works were dedicated to his family members.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Bohuslav_Foerster

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Václav Smetáček (30 September 1906 in Brno – 18 February 1986 in Prague) was a Czech conductor, composer, and oboist. He studied conducting, musicology, aesthetics and philosophy at Charles University in Prague. From 1930 to 1933, he was a member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and from 1934 to 1943, he worked on Czech Radio as conductor and editor. From 1945 to 1966 he worked as a pedagogue at the Prague Conservatory and Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. As a conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, he made several innovations and received many awards for his creations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Václav Smetáček

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