Fibich recommendations

[Alan Howe]

Although I have Fibich's symphonies and Sarka, I'd appreciate it if friends could recommend what I might explore next from his oeuvre, if possible giving brief details of CDs. Thanks in advance!

[izdawiz]

Hi Alan, I would recommend Fibich's Piano Quintet Op.42 it's scored for Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Cello & Piano it's one of his best chamber works. It's been a While since I listen to it, so I'm sorry I don't remember it well enough to give you a description  now but i definitely remember it definitely caught my ear!

[Alan Howe]

Thanks very much indeed.

Any more?

[eschiss1]

... indeed  I think the piano quintet is easy to access- YouTube or in our Downloads section I think?...- and score/parts on IMSLP. And several good recordings.

Apparently Fibich's unpublished (well, until posthumously, ©1951 by Orbis, Prague) first quartet (1874) may well have been the first quartet to use a Czech folk dance (a polka) (Smetana's first dates from 1876). (Sorry, stopped there because I just noticed something and had to edit something @IMSLP. Anyhow, not sure if I've heard the quartets yet. Though I like all I have heard by him iirc - probably includes violin sonata, piano quartet and quintet, piano trio, those 3 symphonies, symphonic poems, ...)

(Oh, just noticed again that the Fibich quintet was performed in NY City earlier this month- a week or so ago, in fact. Missed it however.)

[scottevan]

I first discovered Fibich through his symphonic poems, and in some ways they remain his most effective and perhaps the best introduction to his works. "Touman and the Wood Nymph" is wonderfully evocative and beautifully orchestrated.  I heard the works on LP, but I believe it's by the same forces as on the 1994 Supraphon recording, as the works (both symphonic poems and overtures) are the same as I recall from the LP.

On a separate thread we've discussed his operas. By general opinion "Sarka" is far and away the best; for dramatic intensity few works outside the standard repertoire can match it, at least from Fibich's era. It would be a marvel to see it on the stage.

[eschiss1]

FWIW the overture to Sarka can be heard in the Prague Symphony orchestra's February 19 and 20 2014 concerts, I see. (+Strauss symphonia domestica and Guilmant's first symphony for organ and orchestra. Heiko Förster, conducting.) Don't know of any plans to produce operas of his whole soon, though I'm looking... seems to have happened recently enough ("During the 2011-2012 season, she sang the title role of Fibich's Sarka")

[Mark Thomas]

Certainly the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet are lovely and rewarding works, although IIRC without too much individuality - more a general Bohemian "woods and meadows" sort of feel. Definitely worth exploring. I have the String Quartets too, but recall nothing of them, which maybe says something about their memorability. Sarka is the best of the operas of his which I've heard, but The Bride of Messina comes a close second, I think. As for the tone poems, there are quite a few: the early Othello is dramatic, as you'd expect, but it rambles on a bit. Toman and the Wood Nymph has much more going for it and I remember Spring and At Twilight as being really lovely works, again in appropriately bucolic Czech style.

[Revilod]

"At Twilight" contains Fibich's best known tune...the "Poem." Recently I reviewed an attractive (but now quite elderly) Supraphon Fibich disc which includes it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fibich-Spring-Romance-twilight-Karlstein/dp/B0029T1ZT0/ref=cm_cr-mr-img

[alberto]

If I remember well Stravinsky said that "the follower borrows, the artist steals". At the beginning of "Toman and the Wood-Nymph" Fibich steals as a consummate artist a Schubert's theme.
I agree  about  recommending the Supraphon Cd indicated above containing inter alia "At Twilight" (which exists at least in a Membran recording by the ubiquitous D.Bostock).
(BTW At Twilight is the only Fibich  work I attended in a performance, conducted by F.d'Avalos).
We may now wait, after n.1, for the forthcoming Cds of Naxos Fibich "Orchestral works".
I have a couple of Cd of piano music: playful, not very strong memories.

[Alan Howe]

Has anybody bought the first CD in the new Naxos series? It's had rather mixed reviews...

[alberto]

I have bought the Naxos (and I had already two versions of the first symphony). My interest was about "Impressions from the countryside", op.54. No masterpiece, neither music of real memorability, "unmissable"; but likeable, even lovable listening.
Imitating the magazines' words (in my very limited English) "well worthy the modest price asked for".

[LateRomantic75]

His symphonic poem Toman and the Wood Nymph is a delightful, spirited work. I love Novak's symphonic poem of the same name even more!

[semloh]

A recommendation for Fibich is so difficult, as he oozes beauty, and I've never heard anything by him that didn't impress me. Of course his orchestral music is rich and I would certainly agree with what has been said regarding the chamber works (don't forget the lovely string quartets on Supraphon!).

But .... I recently discovered his piano music (Kvapil on Regis) - and goodness me, it just gets better with each hearing.... clever and varied, full of beautiful melodies, never dull. And the disc has a Penguin recommendation. It seems like a good place to start exploring his piano works, and for something a little lighter that's what I would go for myself. You can always sample a few tracks at http://www.classicalm.com/en/composition/8505/Studies-of-Paintings (no samples on Amazon). 

[BerlinExpat]

I'm a great admirer of Fibich, who I feel is generally underestimated as a composer. One of my favourite CDs is Supraphon SU 3197-2 931 which includes a good cross section of works aside from the symphonies:
Spring, Symphonic Poem op. 13
The Romance of Spring, Cantata, op. 23
At Twighlight, Idyll for Orchestra, op. 39
A Night at Karlstein, Overture to the Comedy by Vrchlický

IMHO the last item is a little too serious sounding for a comedy - but then there are comedies and comedies.

There are also four orchestral works on Supraphon 11 1823-2 01:
Comenius, Festival Overture, op 34
Záboj, Slavoj and Ludek, Symphonic Poem op. 37
Toman and the Wood Nymph, op. 49
Overture to The Fall of Arkona, op. 60

It seems Fibich wasn't "national" enough for most of his compatriots and so at home and abroad has never really succeeded in escaping the shadow cast by Dvorák and Smetana.

The quartet and piano quartet mentioned in previous posts are favourites of mine and IMHO shouldn't be missed.

As mentioned above, Sarka is stupendous and works really well on the stage. So does Boure (The Tempest). There's much memorable music and I feel Fibich has set the story extremely well. I have a copy of the 2007 staging in Bielefeld (in Czech) which I can upload for anyone wishing to delve further into the world of Fibich (132 minutes).

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for all the suggestions. What I really need is firm recommendations of specific CDs to explore...