Page 86 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2025. Glasbena interpretacija: med umetniškim in znanstvenim┊Music Interpretation: Between the Artistic and the Scientific. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 8

glasbena interpretacija ... | music interpretation ...
have been due to the technical aspects of the recording process. One could
argue that an experienced evaluator of recordings at the time (for example,
the aforementioned Mirko Očadlík) was better equipped to distinguish be-
tween what was technically imperfect and what was an artistic flaw. Specif-
ically, regarding the famous Czech opera singer Richard Kubla (1890–1964),
we have a brief mention of how he perceived the old way of recording. The
following quote of a letter to his sister begins with an assessment of how sat-
isfied he was with the recording of his memoirs for Czechoslovak Radio in
early 1955 and goes on to recall the recording process he experienced in the
studios in the interwar period (records for Ultraphon, Esta and His Mas-
ter’s Voice):
It was quite good, except for the orchestra, which always ‘whined’ at the
end of each part!!! That was because it was recorded the old-fashioned
way, still in that trichter [gramophone horn] where you had to step back
when you played the piano and the matrix wheel didn’t spin precisely. 4

Reviews
In the field of musical interpretation, a completely distinct chapter is that
represented by critical publishing. Reviews are, and always will be, of-
ten the only source for forming an idea of how this or that piece sound-
ed, what kind of performance the performer gave, what kind of audience
response they received, etc. By definition, all reviews are subjective state-
ments, which cannot be denied, although the pursuit of objectivity is one
of the main principles of professional reviewing. However, history provides
countless examples where the reader has reason to doubt the objectivity of
a review. There is no point in documenting the various motivations for such
a lack of objectivity in detail here, as each of us has certainly encountered a
reviewer’s varying attitudes towards the chosen singing technique, tempo,
expression, stage movement, degree of talent, portrayal of style, etc.
Let’s focus on a specific artistic personality: Richard Kubla, a tenor
who, thanks to his talent, was able to complete his studies at the Vienna
Academy on an accelerated track, and while still a student was offered an
engagement at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he was set to
earn 800 dollars per performance – in 1915. Remarkably, at that point, Kub-
la’s experience was limited to singing excerpts of longer works during his

4 Viktor Velek, Hudební umělci mezi Ostravou a Vídní. 2, Český Caruso Richard Kubla
= Tonkünstler zwischen Ostrau und Wien. 2, Richard Kubla, der tschechische Caruso
= Musica Bohemica Viennensia; volume VI (Praha: NLN, s.r.o., 2021), 548.

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