SMETANA Má vlast

Czech Philharmonic/Semyon Bychkov Pentatone PTC 5187203 (Hi-res WAV download). 2024. Holger Urbach, prod.; Stephan Reh, eng. PERFORMANCE

SONICS

Smetana’s cycle of six tone poems is a Czech cultural touchstone, regularly performed at festivals and events. Bychkov, a foreigner in Prague, nods to Czech tradition while providing his own insights, especially in Vyšehrad and The Moldau. The harp arpeggios launch Vyšehrad spaciously, the winds and then the upper strings move the theme smoothly, and the little fanfare interjections are ominous rather than festive. A turbulent development tautly builds to a no-nonsense climax. After some odd rubatos from the flutes, the river Moldau flows swiftly; focused accents render the theme starkly dramatic rather than leisurely. The folk-dance rhythms are nicely marked; the transition back to the principal theme, while seamless, scans oddly.

The remainder is less revelatory but graced with effective touches. In a conventional Šárka, Bychkov shapes the turbulent opening with rhetorical rubatos, and the clarinet obbligato over the march registers as a broad, arching melody. Bychkov can’t quite mitigate the busy scoring of From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields, but the opening is imposing, and the fugal episode elides smoothly into the affirmative anthem.

The crisply articulate Tábor offers fervent wind chorales and, against the chugging triplets, a clear, lively interplay of motifs. An unmarked ritard and fade helps keep the transition into Blaník from sounding redundant. The lyric episode before the triumphant reprise is unusually tender and poignant, and the coda is the best balanced since Kubelik’s monaural Mercury recording. (I am not joking.)

The orchestra plays with polished style, though the strings “speak” slightly later than the winds on a few attacks. The wide, vivid soundstage offers satisfying depth in the brass-choir climaxes of the final two movements, and, over headphones, a few stray noises.