Album

Prague National Theatre Orchestra, František Škvor

Blodek: In the Well

Catalogue Number: SU 4341-2
Published: 24th January 2025
Genre: Opera
Format: 1 CD
On CD for the first time in the original stereophonic version

For the Year of Czech Music and for the 150th anniversary of the death of the Czech composer Vilém Blodek, Supraphon has prepared a real treat for opera lovers in the form of the 1959 stereo recording of the opera In the Well (V studni), never before released on any physical medium. The recording was released briefly in the first half of the 1960s on LP records, but only in a monophonic version. After that, it disappeared from the catalogue for several decades. Only now, nearly 66 years since the recording was made and after careful restoration of the sound from the original tapes, this rarity from the early days of stereophonic recording technology is being released in all of its original sonic glory. The soloists were Milada Šubrtová, Štěpánka Štěpánová, Ivo Žídek, and Zdeněk Kroupa. The chorus and orchestra of the Prague National Theatre were conducted by František Škvor in his only complete operatic recording in the Supraphon catalogue.

At the same time, this release also commemorates the recent 100th anniversary of the birth of Milada Šubrtová, a singer at the Prague National Theatre.

Reviews

“The cast of just four soloists is headed by the lovely soprano of Milada Šubrtová as the young maiden Lidunka, with contralto Štěpánka Štěpánová as the wise Veruna, the ringing, honeyed and distinctly Czech tenor of Ivo Žídek as Lidunka’s swe­etheart Vojtěch, and bass Zdeněk Kroupa as the hapless elderly widower Janek… the entertaining score contains many delights, not least a scene-setting intermezzo depicting moonrise on Midsummer Eve, and some jolly choruses. Škvor conducts a sparkling account of this compact opera, which will be a welcome treat for lovers of Czech opera.”
Europadisc, February 2025

Vilém Blodek
In the Well
1. Act 1: Ouverture 08:34
2. Act 1 – Scene 1: Introduction Oh, Times Are Hard Now 05:03
3. Act 1 – Scene 2: So What Did You Come for, Lidunka? 03:19
4. Act 1 – Scene 2: What They Told You about Me 02:18
5. Act 1 – Scene 2: Young Love That´s a Paradise 04:57
6. Act 1 – Scene 3: It’s St. John’s Eve Today 05:56
7. Act 1 – Scene 3: The Evening Light Rises in the Mountains 02:12
8. Act 1 – Scene 4: She Want to See the Face 02:39
9. Act 1 – Scene 5: This Is Going to Be Fun 02:37
10. Act 1 – Scene 6: Moonrise (Intermezzo) 05:32
11. Act 1 – Scene 7: We’ll Light the St. John’s Fires on the Mountains 02:05
12. Act 1 – Scene 7: We Shall Wait Here 02:20
13. Act 1 – Scene 7: We Shall Light the Great Bonfires on the Montains 02:02
14. Act 1 – Scene 8: Oh, Just Go, Just Go, Just Go 01:59
15. Act 1 – Scene 9: Golden, Golden Veruna 02:50
16. Act 1 – Scene 10: St. John’s Fires Glow 00:56
17. Act 1 – Scene 10: I Call in the Holts and Forests 03:21
18. Act 1 – Scene 10: I Have Been Waiting for a Long Time 03:03
19. Act 1 – Scene 11: Finale - St. John´s Fires Glow 01:55
20. Act 1 – Scene 11: Woe! Woe! It´s the Devil! 03:51
21. Act 1 – Scene 11: We Understand One Another 01:32
22. Act 1 – Scene 10: We Shall Light the Great Bonfires on the Montains 02:04

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