Dvorak: Cypresses (Versions for tenor & string quartet)

COMPOSERS: Dvorak
LABELS: Somm
ALBUM TITLE: Dvorak - Cypresses
WORKS: Cypresses (Versions for tenor & string quartet)
PERFORMER: Timothy Robinson

Graham Johnson

Delmé Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: SOMMCD 236

Dvo?ák’s first song cycle, Cypresses,



is perhaps the most richly rewarding



of his compositions that survive



from the 1860s, a decade when



hardly anyone in Prague was aware



of his composing activities. The



composer himself said that the cycle



was written by a young man in love



and each song, in intensity and



imagination, goes well beyond the



disappointingly sentimental verse



on which it is based. Every one of



the 18 songs has its rewards, but the



third and fifth are outstanding, the



latter assaying a melodic line that



looks forward to mature Janá?ek



underpinned by harmonies that



could be by Debussy in the 1890s.



Little wonder that Dvo?ák mined this



rich vein of melody for later scores,



such as the opera Vanda, and other



song cycles from his maturity.



When reviewing his early works



for possible publication, over 20



years later in 1887, Dvo?ák made an



arrangement of 12 of the songs for



string quartet, in the process of which



he ironed out certain infelicities in



the accompaniment though without



compromising the freshness of the



originals. The Delmé Quartet’s



recording is one of the most sweetly



intense and reflective available,



quite comparable to the Vlach



Quartet’s excellent performance



on Naxos. Timothy Robinson is



an eloquent advocate for the songs



and for the most part negotiates the



Czech creditably. Magnificently



accompanied by Graham Johnson,



and resonantly recorded, Robinson



brings genuine passion to each of the



songs, although I could have done



with rather more variety of tone.



Jan Smaczny