Novak/Dvorak concerto disc coming from Hyperion... (or not?)

[TerraEpon]

Check out the bottom:
http://www.leslie-howard.com/titles01.htm

One would assume it's going to be on the Romantic PC series, though it also mentions Rubinstein 3 & 4...and 4 is already in that series. So who knows.

Anyway, I'm very much interested in the Novak, but I don't particularly need a third recording of the Dvorak....hmmm....

EDIT: After thinking about it I wonder if this page is from 2005 (like it says, though the main page lists 2005-2009) and that these discs were canceled. notice it doesn't have, at the least, the second Liszt New Discoveries disc, so...)

[eschiss1]

Pity. Do you know if there ever has been a recording of the Novak?

[JimL]

Check out the bottom:
http://www.leslie-howard.com/titles01.htm

One would assume it's going to be on the Romantic PC series, though it also mentions Rubinstein 3 & 4...and 4 is already in that series. So who knows.

Anyway, I'm very much interested in the Novak, but I don't particularly need a third recording of the Dvorak....hmmm....

EDIT: After thinking about it I wonder if this page is from 2005 (like it says, though the main page lists 2005-2009) and that these discs were canceled. notice it doesn't have, at the least, the second Liszt New Discoveries disc, so...)

Hmmm.  I haven't owned the Dvorak in quite a while, and I have a defective Danacord disc of Rubi 3 & 4 (with an escalating periodic fizz that starts out as annoying and ends up distorting most of Rubi 4).  Hope they're really forthcoming.  I do believe that the Novak would be a first recording, so it may make it on the RPCS.  I doubt that that series will duplicate anything, so the Rubinsteins will probably just be on the regular Hyperion label.

[Alan Howe]

Not as far as I am aware. I have an off-air dub from 1981 with Peter Wallfisch as soloist and can confirm that the work is very attractive, although, dating as it does from 1895, it is pretty untypical. Nevertheless, whatever it may be coupled with, it'd be worth buying any planned CD just for the Novak.

EDIT: I too saw the 2005 date. Such websites are all-too often out of date, unfortunately.

[thalbergmad]

I was getting excited and then realised i was confusing Novak with Novacek.

Anyway, i am sure both could do with recording.

Thal

[chill319]

The list by Allan Ho (a member of this forum) of recorded piano concertos (http://www.siue.edu/~aho/discography/Discography.pdf) includes the following entry:

Novák, Vítězslav [Viktor] (Augustín Rudolf) (1870-1949) Czechoslovakia
**Concerto in e, Op. 10 (1895)

So he has SOME kind of recording of it. But no listing for Novacek.

[TerraEpon]

Yeah, I like what I have of Novak -- mostly orchestral stuff (suites and tone poems) including the orchestraion of Pan, and a fantastic oratorio called The Storm -- a piano concerto from him sounds tasty.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I believe the Novak/Dvorak coupling, with Leslie Howard, was on Hyperion's list of potential releases in the RPC series, but I haven't heard anymore about it.  I have a sneaky suspicion it may have been put on the back burner. I'll try to remember to mention it to Mike Spring when we speak next.

[eschiss1]

Yeah, I like what I have of Novak -- mostly orchestral stuff (suites and tone poems) including the orchestraion of Pan, and a fantastic oratorio called The Storm -- a piano concerto from him sounds tasty.

There's some fine chamber music also- an LP of his third string quartet and cello sonata had very good performances.  The third string quartet may not have reappeared on CD,  but there have been CD recordings of the sonata (a compact, charged and memorable work) and, I think, of the other two quartets (and his piano quintet, two piano trios and violin sonata) on various labels.

[DennisS]

Reading about Novak on the forum prompted me to buy a cd of his music.  Going by Wikipedia's assessment, I chose a recording of Pan, reputedly his most famous work??? I liked the sound of what I read and also listened to on the net and I have to say I have not been disappointed. Already a devotee of both Debussy and Ravel, it is not surprising that Novak's music appeals strongly to me! I plan to explore his music further but regrettably,he has to take his place on my rather long wish list of cds to buy!!!

[Revilod]

You don't have to wait to sample Novak's Piano Concerto. Rather surprisingly, it's on Youtube! This is Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLc3d86MhrA

Follow the links for the rest of the concerto.

"In the Tatras" is an enormously appealing work, very tightly argued and an easy way in to his music. The ballet-pantomime "Nikotina" is also very attractive as is the overture "Lady Godiva" but the greatest piece I've come across by Novak is the symphonic poem "De Profundis".  It includes a part for organ. Though not an easy listen, once you pick up the themes it's riveting and, by the end, absolutely overwhelming. I did a review of Libor Pesek's Chandos recording for amazon.co.uk

[FBerwald]

So whats up with this  Novak/Dvorak concerto disc? Is it coming or not?

[Alan Howe]

I'm not holding my breath...

[eschiss1]

Hrm, DCF Wright mentions the Novak concerto in an article quoted here (but possibly originally written for MusicWeb? Not sure), noting that it was first performed about 20 years after composition, and praising it...
Eric