Smetana Ma Vlast My Fatherland Rafael Kubelik Chicago Symphony 1953 2LP NearMint
$
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Description
Smetana
Ma Vlast
My Fatherland
Rafael Kubelik
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Mercury Records OL-2-100 1953 2X12" 33rpm (UK)
This is the famed Mercury recordings of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Rafael Kubelik. Mercury pioneered the one microphone technique for its monaural recordings. This is one of such recordings. On the technical side, this recording is unbelievably vivid. The sound is not unduly compressed--the orchestra's fullness can be easily felt.
Kubelik's tenure at Chicago Symphony Orchestra was brief--only about three years or so. Reputed as a gentleman with a sensitive personality, Kubelik shows his artistic sensitivity in the Smetana work. Ma Vlast is series of symphonic poems, not just a collection of pieces representing places in Bohemia. Kubelik, a Czech who left his homeland (then under Communist rule), respects the poetic side of the symphonic poems and thus tries to convey us his longing for the places that are named in this series. I find Kubelik's readings of Vysehrad (High Castle), Sarka (the third of the six "poems") and Tabor (the fifth of the six "poems") to be particularily telling; the readings evoke best Kubelik's emotion as a Czech and bring out the spirit of the more sensitive pre-Reiner Chicago Symphony.
I highly recommend this set for Kubelik's sensitve treatment of this popular work.
Tracklist
A1 Vyšhrad ("The High Castle") 14:37
A2 Vltava ("The Moldau") 11:47
B1 Šárka 9:19
B2 Z ?eských Luh? A Háj? ("From Bohemia's Meadows And Forests") 12:39
C1 Tábor 13:21
D1 Blaník 13:53
NOTE: Discs are sequenced for an automatic changer
Condition: 2 LPs are Excellent to Near Mint, in attached hard paper inner sleeves in a box in Very Good condition, comes with insert sheet liner notes.
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