One of the most enduringly popular conductors to come out of Eastern Europe during the postwar era, Rafael Kubelik had the good fortune to outlive the communist Czech regime from which he exiled himself, and to return to his homeland a hero late in his career. Throughout his career, Kubelik was a very popular conductor, and a critical favorite as well on two continents, especially where late Romantic and modern works were concerned.

The son of violinist Jan Kubelik (1880-1940), Rafael Kubelik studied at the Prague Conservatory with the intention of becoming a composer. He made his debut before the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at age 19, and in 1939 became the Music Director of the National Opera in Brno, Czechoslovakia. In 1941 he became the Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, a post he held until 1948. In 1948, with the establishment of a communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia, Kubelik left his homeland, and became an exile for the next 40 years.

He became the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1950, at a difficult time in the orchestra's history. Founded 1891 by Theodore Thomas, who was also the orchestra's conductor until 1905, when Frederick Stock succeeded him. Stock had held the conductor's post until his death in 1942, after which the orchestra had gone through a turbulent period, and three music directors in barely eight years, one of whom--Wilhelm Furtwangler--had resigned before ever taking the appointment because of the controversy over his alleged wartime activities.

Kubelik's three years with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra were, at the time, a frustating period. By temperament a persuasive rather than a dictatorial figure, and a diplomat rather than a martinet, he lacked the ability to control the orchestra. Additionally, at age 36, Kubelik's musical sensibilities had been shaped in the early twentieth century rather than the late nineteenth, as had been the case with his immediate predecessors--he programmed far too much modern music for the taste of critics and subscribers. Ultimately the fit just wasn't right between Kubelik and the orchestra, and he gave up the appointment after three years, to be succeeded by Fritz Reiner.

Where Kubelik was fortunate was that his appointment coincided with the orchestra making its first major move into long-playing records, on the Mercury label. Among the most celebrated of his two dozen recordings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was a riveting performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition, and one of several acclaimed performances of Smetana's My Fatherland. Following that appointment, Kubelik served for three years, from 1955 thru 1958, as Music Director of the Covent Garden Opera in London, where he conducted the British premieres of Janacek's Jenufa and Berlioz's Les Troyens. From 1961 until 1979, he held the post of Music Director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony in Munich, with which he also recorded extensively (for Deutsche Grammophon), and became the principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York during the 1973-74 season as well. He also was a most welcomed guest conductor in Chicago on many occasions throughout his later career. During 1973, he moved to Switzerland and became a Swiss citizen.

Kubelik was celebrated as a master of rich orchestral color, which was brought out most vividly in the late Romantic and post-Romantic scores for which he was most popular. This included much of the late nineteenth century Russian repertory, and virtually all of the nationalist music of the era, especially the work of his fellow countrymen Antonin Dvorak, Leos Janacek, and Bedrich Smetana. He recorded the latter's Ma Vlast (My Fatherland) at least four times on as many different labels, from the monaural era into the digital era, the last at a live performance in Prague during 1990 at a concert commemorating the liberation of the country from Communist rule, a recording of which was later released on the Supraphon label. He also appeared as guest conductor with virtually all of the world's major orchestras, and recorded extensively in England, America, and Germany.

With the fall of the Communist dictatorship, Kubelik, who had been ill intermittently for several years, returned to Czechoslovakia for the first time in four decades with the intention of resuming full-time his intended career as a composer. As it was, he had authored five operas, several symphonies, and various works for soloist and orchestra, vocal works, and chamber pieces, although he was far and away best known as a conductor. He died in Lucerne in 1996 after a long illness.

Rafael Kubelik was among the last conductors to have studied and started his career before World War II (Sir Georg Solti is now the sole active survivor of that generation), and embodied a tradition of robust post-Romantic music making that was ideally suited to the recording medium as well as the concert hall--the sheer number of his recordings that remain in print (including four versions of Ma Vlast), and their equal distribution between the "historical" and modern sections of classical music departments, speaks volumes about his enduring popularity and the validity of his performances, recordings, and interpretations. In Czech music, he had few, if any, equals, but he was also well-suited to the general late Romantic European repertory, and his complete Beethoven and Mahler cycles remained in print for many years. Although relatively little of his operatic work was preserved on record, the small number of these are also well regarded, especially his Rigoletto. ~ Bruce Eder

Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Mercury [7]

Dvorak Symphony No. 8 Deutsche Grammophon [7]

Mahler Complete Symphonies Deutsche Grammophon [6]

Mussorgsky Pictures At An Exhibition Mercury [8]

Smetana My Fatherland Supraphon [8]

My Fatherland Deutsche Grammophon [7]

My Fatherland London [5]

My Fatherland Mercury [7]

Verdi Rigoletto Deutsche Grammophon [6]

Ernst Haefliger was one of the better known and more versatile tenors of his day. He was impressive both on the operatic stage and as a recitalist, and in each of these realms his repertory was broad, from Baroque era (J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion) to the contemporary (Boris Blacher's Zwischenfälle bei einer Notlandung). Haefliger received high praise for his Schubert lieder, particularly for Winterreise and Die schöne Müllerin. His 1949 Salzburg Festival debut as Tiresias in Orff's Antigonae received critical acclaim. Haefliger was probably best known for his Mozart (Pamina, Ferrando, Don Ottavio, and others), and for his portrayals of the Evangelist in the Bach Passions. He was one of the first tenors to record Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde in stereo (Bruno Walter, conducting; 1960). The tone of Haefliger's voice, while appealing, was generally regarded as not particularly outstanding; yet, because of his precision in articulation and deft sense for phrasing, he achieved a vocal style quite unforgettable, quite distinct from other tenors of his generation. Though most of his recordings are decades old, many remain available on Philips (the largest source), Decca, Sony, DG, Naxos, Orfeo, Berlin Classics, Preiser Records, Testament, and other labels.

Ernst Haefliger was born in Davos, Switzerland, on July 6, 1919. He studied at the Zurich Conservatory and at the Geneva Conservatory, where his most important teacher was Fernando Capri; he later took vocal lessons in Vienna from iconic tenor Julius Patzak. Haefliger debuted in 1942 in Geneva singing the Evangelist in the St. John Passion. The following year he joined the Zurich Opera, remaining there until 1952.

From 1952-1974 he was a member of the Deutsche Oper, but frequently appeared at other major operatic venues and in recitals and orchestral concerts. Many important debuts took place during this 22-year run, including at Glyndebourne (1956) singing Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Chicago's Lyric Opera (1966), in the same role, and Moscow (1968) as the Evangelist.

Haefliger remained active well past his 1972 retirement from the Deutsche Oper. In fact, he was singing Schubert's Winterreise in recital as late as 1995 (London's Wigmore Hall), when he was 76! Even after he finally retired from singing, Haefliger made concert appearances in speaking roles, as in the 2002 performance of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder at the Proms (in London), where he was narrator. Haefliger died in Davos on March 17, 2007.