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Karel Ancerl the legendary conductor.

Article Excerpt
It is entirely right that Karel Ancerl should today be regarded as one of the greatest of Czech conductors and that his era in the role of head of the Czech Philharmonic should sometimes be characterised as a "golden age". The Supraphon extensive "Gold Edition" of all his important recordings as conductor has undoubtedly contributed to this reputation. It is nonetheless salutary to remember in this context that his path to general acclaim was far from direct, and that not even in the period when he headed the Czech Philharmonic (1950-1968) did he enjoy anything like the general respect that he deserved. Many people at the time said that he was cold, that he did not have the right feeling for the Czech tradition of performance, that he was over obsessed with detail, and a range of other comments of a distinctly hostile kind.

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Even with hindsight we can say that Karel Ancerl never quite fitted the usual image of the Czech musician who retains his spontaneous musicality and whose heart leads him to soft warmth and melodiousness. In this respect Ancerl is definitely alien in his uncompromising emphasis on rhythmic precision, a sense of structure and the rational understanding of the score--and these are only his most striking features. As an authoritative chief he was not always popular and his interpretations were criticised for a lack of originality. It was as if his great successes during tours with the Czech Philharmonic and as guest conductor with world-famous orchestras were not a clinching argument. Today these doubts are a thing of the past, although in a way history is repeating itself slightly, since the charges that were levelled at Ancerl are today often thrown at the currently most acclaimed Czech conductor, Jiri Belohlavek. We might indeed find even more parallels between the careers and musical profiles of the two conductors. Karel Ancerl was only to enjoy full recognition in retrospect and we may perhaps hope that Belohlavek, working in a culturally and politically more favourable time, will gain general recognition in his homeland with less delay.

If we look at the beginnings of Karel Ancerl's career (he was born almost exactly a century ago on the 11th of April 1908), two things emerge as crucial: the radio and contemporary music, often both together. He was born in Tucapy near Sobeslav, and only came to Prague as a high-school student, shortly afterwards transferring to the conservatory, where he graduated in 1930 with a concert at which he conducted his own Symfonietta. His next important step was rehearsal for the premiere of Haba's quartertone opera "Mother" in Munich (see also CM 3/05). It was directed by Hermann Scherchen and the young Ancerl proved his worth as a brilliant assistant. His subsequent step up the ladder was surprisingly enough jazz, since the composer Jaroslav Jezek (see CM 1/07) gave a helping hand to...