Here is a highly interesting enterprise, for which much credit is due to Supraphon: a record that is its own comparative review. Together on it are two parallel performances of Janacek’s song-cycle, both recorded in Prague, but one being the classic version with Beno Blachut made in 1956, the other hitherto unknown in this country and made in 1984 by Nicolai Gedda. Blachut, who despite his heroic use of his voice kept it in good order throughout a long career, was then in his early forties, and well in his prime; Gedda, another singer who preserved his voice carefully, was in his sixtieth year.
Any lover of Janacek’s music is strongly urged to acquire this striking record. The commentary, by the distinguished scholar Jiri Vyslouzil, makes no bones about preferring Blachut, observing that, “what may have displeased some critics, including even those abroad, was the operatic style of Gedda’s interpretation, which was also adopted by... Vera Soukupova”. It is easy enough to see what he means: for instance, in No. 6, translated as “Hey there my tawny oxen”, as the young man ploughing has his head set afire by a glimpse of the gipsy girl in the bushes, Gedda gives the climactic phrase “v jednom je plameni” an Italianate fervour where Blachut develops the song’s passion more steadily towards the phrase, which can therefore be less strenuously emphasized. Nevertheless, Gedda’s vocal elegance and eloquence have their own appeal; and his Russian background has long helped him towards a deep understanding of music in the Slavonic repertory. His is a superb performance of a work that can well sustain a new approach, whatever loyalties there may be to Blachut’s identification with the work. But listeners have a unique opportunity here for getting, literally, two for the price of one and enjoying the comparisons, helped by text and translations in English, French and German. A linchpin of both performances, as so often he was, is Josef Palenicek.
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