These were good enough performances for their place and time, but do they really need to be reissued?
Josef Chuchro was a fine cellist with a strong arm and an agile technique, but his interpretations were never especially persuasive.
Vaclav Neumann was a capable conductor, but his interpretations ranged from dull to dismal.
Zdenek Kosler was also a capable conductor, but his interpretations ranged from the dreary to the depressing. Of course, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was one of the warmest, sweetest, most colorful, most lyrical, and most virtuosic orchestras in the world, but unfortunately, under
Neumann and
Kosler, it usually sounded simply bored.
However, one of these performances does deserve to be preserved. While there are dozens, if not hundreds, of recordings of Dvorák's Cello Concerto, there are precious few recordings of Martinu's masterful Cello Concerto. And while neither
Chuchro nor
Kosler are particularly impressive, the luminous colors, lyrical melodies, and light-footed rhythms of Martinu's music still shines through sufficiently to make manifest the greatness of the music. Supraphon's late stereo sound was hard and rough then and as remastered on this disc, it's still hard and rough now.