A Portrait of Karel Husa

Chronique

There is a heck of a good reason why Czech composer Karel Husa is considered one of the top composers in the symphonic band medium; his music is exciting, he has an intrinsic knowledge of musical instruments, and has no compunction about using wild combinations of them in order to add color. He uses progressive rhythmic elements to keep it all together and most listeners of any experience are unlikely to get lost in Husa's music. Although the flavor of Husa's work is essentially Czech, he has made his career mostly in the United States, where he was based out of Cornell University for four decades; his calling card is the magnificent band composition Music for Prague 1968, which commemorates the "Prague Spring" of that year and the extensive protests that followed in its wake. In 1990, two years before he retired from Cornell, Husa succeeded in conducting Music for Prague 1968 in the city of Prague himself, realizing a long-held dream. While Husa's music was widely represented in the vinyl era, it proved slow making it onto CDs. Nevertheless, since 2000 that situation is improving in leaps and bounds. Albany Records' A Portrait of Karel Husa features the crack expertise of the Illinois State University Wind Symphony under Stephen K. Steele in a concert recording from the Midwest Clinic of 2005, the clinic being an international conference of band and orchestra players held annually in Chicago.
The menu features four of Husa's dishes from a fairly wide span of time; although dated to 1983, the Concertino for piano and wind ensemble is a recasting of a piano and orchestra work dating from 1948 and premiered in Belgium. Pianist Mokomo Gresham contributes a splendid performance of the solo piano part here, and the work demonstrates an interest in French style a few steps forward from neo-classicism. Al Fresco (1975) has an almost swing dance band intensity to it, though its roots are in Janácek rather than in Stan Kenton; Smetana Fanfare (1984) pays more direct homage to Husa's Bohemian connection, though it contains an extraordinary build-up that would have impressed Smetana himself. And of course, the indispensable Music for Prague 1968 rounds off this portrait. There is one drawback in that the recording quality is very hot, bordering on distortion, though it is likewise rather "live" and it captures an air of excitement that causes one to overlook the tiny instrumental slips here and there that are part of every public performance; Albany, thankfully, elects to omit the applause. If one is not familiar with the work of Karel Husa and looking to get on board, then Albany Records' A Portrait of Karel Husa is a good vehicle in which to take the ride.

© TiVo