Fibich Symphony No.1 gets an excellent review
Zdenĕk Fibich (1850-1900) has been described as the third of the leading Czech composers of the second half of the nineteenth century, coming after Smetana and Dvořák. His music, while less nationalistic than his compatriots, tends to be more personal while still showing an indebtedness to the music of his homeland, and is deeply poetic and Romantic.
The Symphony No. 1, composed between 1877 and 1883, is traditional in structure and shows little Czech influence in the music, being more reminiscent of Mendelssohn than of Smetana and Dvořák. It hasn't fared too badly when it comes to recordings, with this new CD being the fourth in the current catalogue, true the earlier Naxos recording with Andrew Mogrelia and the Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra is easily forgettable, but the two other recordings, Neeme Järvi with the Detroit Symphony on Chandos and Karel Šejna and the Czech Philharmonic on Supraphon really are the recordings to judge any new recording by. Järvi's recording is strong and beautifully poised and benefits from the mid 1990's Chandos digital sound, however, for pure Czech passion the recording by Šejna is hard to beat, yes I know that the mono recording from 1950 will not be to many people's taste, but what power, what drive. This new recording compares well with both Järvi and Šejna, it is the slowest overall, 36:45 compared with 34:13 of Järvi and a positively lightning quick 30:05 of Šejna, but it does not seem that slow! It offers the listener the poise of Järvi and some of the passion of Šejna, and in my opinion just edges out Järvi as a first choice for a modern digital recording, if not the superlative performance of Šejna, which even taking in to account the limitations of the mono sound, still remains my first choice for this work!
As to the suite of five movements entitled Impressions from the Countryside, this is new to me, as I imagine it is to most people, I can't find another version in the current CD catalogue. It offers the listener some beautiful music, somewhat similar to that contained in his collection of piano pieces collectively known as Moods, Impressions and Reminiscences, a set of tone pictures with more of a leaning to Czech traditions than the Symphony. This is music that makes a good companion to the 1st Symphony and which deserves to be heard, 25 ½ minutes of listening joy!
The playing of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra is excellent, it may lack a little of the drive of the other performances of the Symphony, but Marek Štilec demonstrates a good understanding of the music as well as a maturity far greater than his 26 years (at the time of recording. This is a very auspicious beginning to what promises to be an impressive series, highly recommended.
Source: Amazon
