Novak - Lady Godiva, De Profundis, Toman and the Wood Nymph

Vitezslav NOVAK (1870-1949)

 

Lady Godiva, Op. 41

Overture to the play by Jaroslav Vrchlicky for large orchestra

 

Toman and the Wood Nymph, Op. 40

Symphonic poem after a Bohemian legend for large orchestra

 

De profundis, Op. 67

Symphonic poem for large orchestra and organ

 BBC Philharmonic

 Libor Pesek

 Recorded 

 New Broadcasting House, Manchester . 25-26 March 1999

The two Czech composers Novák and Suk became lifelong friends and were referred to as ‘the promising hopes of Czech music’. They both belonged to the world of European Romanticism, aligning themselves closely with Richard Strauss and the romantic side of Debussy.

Novák became increasingly steeped in nature and, although given to bouts of severe depression, was at his happiest when he was climbing in his beloved Tatra mountains in Slovakia. The first decade of the twentieth century saw him produce his most popular works and he remained an influential figure in Czech music.

When the new Municipal Theatre was opened in Prague in 1907 the Czech writer Jaroslav Vrchlický wrote a play on the story of Lady Godiva, and Novák was asked to write an overture for it. For Novák who frequently pursued the theme of woman in all her guises, this provided him with the opportunity to write a work about conflict and resolution, with her husband Leofric in an oppressive C minor, and Godiva in E flat major. It was first performed at the opening of the theatre in November 1907.

‘De profuindis’ was begun in the spring of 1941 and completed on 10 May, during the Nazi occupation. The title uses the opening line of Psalm 130, ‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord’, in its Latin form, associated with the funeral rites. It sets the tone for a work which expresses the oppression of the occupied peoples and their sense of despair.

At the time of its premiere, ‘Toman and the Wood Nymph’, Op. 40 caused a stir among Prague audiences, being far more dissonantly modern, passionate and pictorially dramatic than anything from Novák’s pen up to that time. (Janácek at this time was still virtually unknown.) It is significant that Novák was greatly impressed by the sound world of Richard Strauss’s ‘Salome’. The literary source for ‘Toman’ is a Czech folk legend in poetry, but it is not so much the tale itself as its erotic portrayal of the destructive power of woman that Novák seems to reflect.

Reviews

‘It is good that we are finally becoming aware of him [Novak]. Certainly this outstanding release does its share. It includes good notes and has stunning sound’.

American Record Guide

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…music unquestionably touched by genius… more convincing performances would be hard to imagine…

BBC Music Magazine