Dvořák: Complete Cello Works

Album review

The great B minor Cello Concerto of Antonín Dvorák remains, more than 115 years after its composition, one of the cornerstones of the cello repertoire and by far the most successful of all Dvorák's concertos. Much less known is the Cello Concerto in A major -- Dvorák's first -- that was written some 30 years prior to the B minor. The A major was composed as a gift, one Dvorák did not have opportunity to rework as he aged or to orchestrate himself. Lost and forgotten until the 1920s, the First Concerto has been subjected to many different orchestrations, cuts, and versions. Though it is interesting as a historical link in the chain of Dvorák's tremendous growth as a composer, it certainly does not live up to the stature of its big brother. Cellist Tomás Jamník, joined by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under Tomás Netopil, present these two concertos (including their own version of the A major concerto, which substantially cuts the work's original 55-minute length down to about 35 minutes) along with two orchestrated short works for cello: Silent Woods and the Rondo in G minor. From Jamník's first entrance in the B minor concerto, listeners will be both enthralled and disappointed. Enthralled because the young artist plays with an immense degree of suppleness and fluidity, elegant shifts, beautiful intonation, and organic rubato. Even the less gripping A major concerto is elevated to a higher level in Jamník's hands. The disappointment comes from his rather modest, insufficient sound production for which Supraphon inadequately compensates. After the grand, robust orchestral introduction, Jamník's sound is small and obscured. A shame, really, since his playing is so obviously worth hearing.
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