Karel Ancerl Gold Edition Vol.31. Brahms Double Concerto Symphony No.2

This disc brings together the Double concerto recording from 1963 and the symphony from 1967. Both have been well remastered and both have been well worth that effort as both recordings present particularly fine interpretations.The double concerto brings back memories from early LP days for me as this recording was in my library in those days and was lost in the transition to CD. The sound has been greatly improved with more body and depth giving greater realism.Josef Suk, as recorded, has a typically small and bright tone quality. In this respect he has a similar timbre to that of the violin section of the orchestra which is unusually bright and almost 'grainy' in texture. That does not apply to the rest of the strings which have full tone and depth. Navarra's sound is full with realistic bite. The two soloists play with evident unity of thought and are extremely well matched. They are particularly well supported by Ancerl and the orchestra. The interpretation has a good forward pace without any suggestion of undue haste and the last movement has a refreshing sense of the dance rather than the more dramatically driven view taken by many other players.The second symphony shares that forward pacing culminating in an exciting performance of the last movement with blazing coda. This is reminiscent of Beecham's famous 'live' performance but in markedly better sound. The 1967 recording is fuller than the 1963 recording for the concerto and this suits the symphony very well.The Czech orchestra at the time of these recordings had a very distinctive sound with 'burbling' clarinets, rustic double reeds, small toned but cutting trumpets and a string section of considerable virtuosity. This was a cultural feature and has now been lost with the increasing internationalism of orchestral players. The sound would have been familiar to Dvorak and Mahler for example and these discs preserve that sound which will never be recovered. This series is therefore an enormously valuable historical record and reference. The remastering has been very successful right through this series.I would suggest that this disc presents two very fine interpretations within a cultural sound world that adds its own positive perspective. The disc is worth considering just as recordings of these artists but also as an historical record of considerable importance culturally. I would suggest that this combination of positives makes this disc an attractive proposition for collectors of alternative interpretations especially.

Performances full of dash and flair, warmly and vividly recorded. The Concerto is open and romantic, in contrast, say, to Oistrakh and Fournier's more patrician and classical reading. In the Symphony Ancerl is sprightly and emphasises contrasts: the third movement sounds almost Tchaikovskian in its dancing, transparent textures.But the record is almost worth the money for its booklet, edited with monumental ineptness. The photo of Josef Suk is printed the wrong way round, making him appear to be playing left handed. Then, illustrating the biography of André Navarra, we find an excellent portrait of Pierre Fournier!

This disc features the amazing singing voice of the Czech contralto/mezzo soprano Vera Soukupova, which shares with the likes of Kathleen Ferrier the rare ability to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.Karel Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic were also on good form for this recording which, made around 1963 when the Cold War was at its most intense, captures the edge which characterised that time, and also resonates with the Russian historical era in which Prokoviev's score was set. If only Eisenstein's film of the same name had had this as its soundtrack!

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ブラームス交響曲第2番はよくブラームスの「田園」交響曲と言われるが、私は全くそう思わない。あえてこれに標題をつけるとしたら、「ヴェルタ―（湖）」か「ペルチャッハ」だろう。のどかな田園風景ではなく、美しい自然に囲まれて幸福感に満たされるような交響曲だと私は考えている。アンチェルのこの演奏はそれを見事に表現していると思う。この曲のお気に入りの一つとなった。アンチェルのファンならぜひ買っていただきたい名盤である。カップリングの「二重協奏曲」も申し分ない名演だ。

Absolutely amazing recording!

I agree with the other reviewers regarding the merits of these two performances but have withheld a 5th star because of the audio quality, which although perfectly satisfactory is not as outstanding (even given their remastering) as many other recordings of this era (1960s). In fact, if one wants to hear how good Ancerl's Supraphon recordings can sound try the Japanese Blu spec pressing of his Dvorak New World symphony, the tympany of which virtually leap out at you in their realism.