Supraphon Online (Smetana String Quartet, etc.)

[cooper...@gmail.com]

A friend who posts regularly here clued me in to the treasure trove of inexpensive lossless downloads available from Supraphon at http://www.supraphonline.cz/ (nice portmanteau). Start to type Smeta... into the search box and you will see a link to "Smetanovo kvarteto" (=Smetana Quartet), which includes many splendid recordings that have never appeared on CD, as well as some that have but are now op. Mono FLACs cost the equivalent of about US$3.50 per album, and stereo about $5.25. No registration is necessary if you permit a link to Google+, and credit card payment is at a secure third-party site. I purchased the Dvorak op. 34 / Martinu SQ#4 coupling, the early '50s Smetana SQs, the '50s coupling of Dvorak op. 105 / Mozart K. 465 (not the same as the '60s EMI recordings reissued by Testament), and the Prokofiev #1 / Shostakovich #3 pairing. Transfers sound splendid, and the excellence of the performances probably is well known to anyone who has read this far.

Oddly enough, the 1962 recording of Smetana's SQ#2 still seems to be MIA; I don't think it has ever appeared on CD (the listing in Youngrok Lee's discography is incorrect iirc) and wonder why not. But there is a 1985 live recording of the piece c/w Beethoven op. 131 and a work by Kalabis that I do not recall having seen before.

Poking around the site. I found many desirable recordings by other artists. An odd paucity of Janacek SQ recordings (only the DG box!), and I was disappointed to find only one Plocek/Palenicek recording (Mozart Sonatas, but no Beethoven, and none of the old Czech Trio recordings w/Sadlo). But it's silly to dwell on what is not there when so many wonderful recordings have been made available for a reasonable price.

Downloading is slow but trouble-free, and the site keeps a record of purchases and allows multiple downloads. The zip files come with FLACs (or mp3s if you prefer--they're even cheaper), an image of the front cover, and an option to download PDFs of a jewel case insert and a sheet with recording information. Everything is in Czech, but easy to decipher with minimal assistance from Google translate.

AC

[Frank Berger]

I have a joint Denon-Supraphon CD of the quartets, catalog #7339, which
claims a 1976 recording date. I've seen a review which, without
commenting on the discrepancy, claims these are the 1985 recordings.

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[cooper...@gmail.com]

Is this the CD: http://www.discogs.com/Smetana-Quartet-Smetana-Two-String-Quartets/release/4623080? (I have a Japanese issue with a different catalog number but the same cover art). If so, I'm reasonably certain that these are the 1976 recordings of the two quartets; the CD was issued in 1985, which may have caused some confusion. The live performance of #2 to which I referred actually took place on November 6, 1985. The 1976 Smetana recordings are not available for download on the Supraphon site--only 1950/53, 1962 (#1 only) and 1985 (#2 only). Fans of the group probably know the live performances of #1 issued by BBC (1965) and INA Memoire Vive (1956).

AC

[Mandrake]

On Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at 9:19:08 AM UTC-6, cooper...@gmail.com wrote:

> [...]

>
> Oddly enough, the 1962 recording of Smetana's SQ#2 still seems to be MIA; I don't think it has ever appeared on CD (the listing in Youngrok Lee's discography is incorrect iirc) and wonder why not. But there is a 1985 live recording of the piece c/w Beethoven op. 131 and a work by Kalabis that I do not recall having seen before.
>

> [...]
>
> AC

The Smetana Quartet's 1962 recordings of the Smetana quartets (and its 1973 recording of Novak's Quartet No. 2) are included in the three-CD Supraphon box set «The Best of Czech Classics ~ String Quartets»: http://www.supraphonline.cz/album/11-the-best-of-czech-classics-smyccove-kvartety-smetana-dvorak/flac

The Dvorak and Suk works are given over to the Panocha Quartet, the Janacek to the Skampa.

[cooper...@gmail.com]

Thanks. I'm embarrassed to say that I looked right past that "Best of" collection, but there it is--the whole set downloadable for a little over $10, including the 1962 recordings of both quartets.

Another odd Smetana SQ question: has their Suk op. 11 ever been reissued complete on CD, or only two movements of it (as opposed to the Supraphon/Crossroads LP issues)?

AC

[Gerard]

Another odd Smetana SQ question: has their Suk op. 11 ever been reissued
complete on CD, or only two movements of it (as opposed to the
Supraphon/Crossroads LP issues)?

======================

I cannot answer your question.
But the first two movement s have been issued on CD (I have an issue with
Dvorak op. 96 and Novak quartet 2. op.35).

[John Hood]

<cooper...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:2a98141a-b43c-4247...@googlegroups.com...

Can you convert this site to English?

JH

[John Hood]

<cooper...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:2a98141a-b43c-4247...@googlegroups.com...

Sorry, didn't see the reference to Google translate ...

[Dave Cook]

On 2015-03-04, John Hood <john...@iinet.net.au> wrote:

> Sorry, didn't see the reference to Google translate ...

Google translates Voříšek as Peanut!

They don't seem to have the Gertler Berg Concerto that Qobuz had.

Dave Cook

[cooper...@gmail.com]

I've bought a lot of recordings from Qobuz in the past, but lately when I go to the site I get a pop-up that reads, "Welcome! Are you based in United States?
Qobuz is not available for your country." I assume that it's not just me. It's interesting to see what is available on the Supraphon site and what isn't. Hopefully it's a work in progress. We want access to everything, of course :-)

AC