Novák Sonata Eroica

[eschiss1]

until someone creates a Novák thread (... is there one?) in the other  half of the forum- is there a recording of Novak's Serenaden opus 9? not to be confused with his serenade for orchestra in F major w/o opus (sometimes given opus 9 - I don't know why; serenaden opus 9 is 4 brief pieces for piano - 10 pages of score paper - none of the movements in F major, not beginning where it ends, either (score's at IMSLP, will check soon again but I think it begins in Dflat and ends in a mvt. in E). Serenade in F major is about 40 minutes. and Novák != Morton Feldman.)

(That's not to say that the serenade for orchestra mightn't be based on themes from the much briefer 1896 piano work, maybe - I don't know either, have seen them in score briefly ... anyone who knows the story, I'd like to hear about it- in another thread, of course. )

[Mark Thomas]

At the risk of sounding a redundant "I agree", I must echo febnyc's recommendation of this recording. The music is beautifully played and the range of emotions with which Kavapil invests it is stunning. The Sonata is a real find, grand, grand music which is quite without bluster or bombast. The other works are charming and, for the most part, heart-warmingly lyrical. What a contrast and what a joy.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Enthusiastic endorsements of recommendations are never redundant, Mark! To my mind, Novak, although the total work list is limited, is one of the great and 'not sung enough' Bohemian composers.

If the Sonata Eroica grabs you, do seek out Pan. In its original form it was composed for piano, and after a Prologue is a set of suites ('Mountains', 'Sea', 'Forest', 'Woman') celebrating nature. Wonderful work. I believe Kvapil recorded it, and since many Alto releases seem to fall into patterns I hope we'll get a second Kvapil CD of the piano music including Pan. Alternatively Chandos once had a lovely Margaret Fingerhut disc, but they seem to have allowed it to go rusty - and hence it ends up in the silly price Amazon category.

Novak later orchestrated Pan (almost doubling the duration of the piano work which lasts just under 30 minutes). It is apparently a very grand affair. There was an aged Marco Polo CD of the orchestrated version, but I've never heard it. It would be a 'natural' for Chandos - a few years ago they put out a stunning CD of Lady Godiva, Toman and the Wood Nymph, and De Profundis, and if Chandos wanted to do good for the world they should issue a second disc of Novak orchestral music.

[Steve B]

The 2 Marco Polo Orchestral Serenades are very beautiful; lovely leisurely performances; unusually good quality for MP orchestral stuff; try the unforgettable opening theme of the first Serenade; equals Dvorak's anyday!:)Steve

[eschiss1]

just read the online notes to the Marco Polo recording. no explanation of any relation between the serenade in F and the serenaden that would explain their use of "opus 9" for the former, which is, I believe, incorrect unless there is such a relationship. It's, I gather, often and usually referred to as the serenade in F major w/o opus, except on a few recordings like this one...- which made me very confused when I saw, in the Novák category on IMSLP, the brief piano work opus 9 that seemed to have nothing to do with the serenade in F (again if only because of extreme brevity and a key sequence and tempo sequence having nothing to do with the 40-minute long larger work); I assumed that it was the mistake and prepared to delete it (the piano work) until I figured out that that was, indeed, opus 9!
Eric

[TerraEpon]

I seem to remember having the very same confusion with that piece on IMSLP for some reason (don't even remember why I looked it up...)