Well, here's a curious record. Dennis Russell Davies tells in the notes that he decided to orchestrate Dvorak's Bagatelles when he was conductor of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota because he felt that there was not enough romantic music for a small orchestra. His arrangement has been very skilfully made and stands up well to the original, but I wonder if it is really desirable to have two versions of the same work on one record.
In the performance for string trio and harmonium Davies plays the keyboard instrument neatly, and the string players are very accomplished, but the work's rustic charm is rather lost for two reasons. In the first place tempos in the quicker pieces are a little too fast, so that they sound less folksy and dance-like than they should and too sophisticated. And the slightly clumsy wheezy tones of the harmonium are too much in the background, so that the instrument is almost relegated to the role of accompanist. In the orchestrated version, played very well by the Bonn orchestra, tempos again tend to be too fast, as they do in the faster movements of the Serenade. But the wind players show off their skills to excellent effect in the latter work, and their mid-European timbre sounds just right in Dvorak.
The Bonn Beethovenhalle Orchestra is clearly a first-rate body, and Schwann's recording is technically excellent, with a beautifully warm, spacious quality in the two works for larger ensemble.'