Dvorák Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Antonín Dvořák
Label: Duo
Magazine Review Date: 8/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 139
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 438 347-2PM2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 7 |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
(Royal) Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Antonín Dvořák, Composer Colin Davis, Conductor |
Symphony No. 8 |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
(Royal) Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Antonín Dvořák, Composer Colin Davis, Conductor |
Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World' |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
(Royal) Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Antonín Dvořák, Composer Colin Davis, Conductor |
Symphonic Variations |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Colin Davis, Conductor London Symphony Orchestra |
Author: Andrew Achenbach
Sir Colin Davis's magnificent Amsterdam Dvorak Seventh remains one of the most compellingly taut available: gloriously played and paced to perfection, it has a dark, searing intensity wholly apt for this, the Czech master's most tragic utterance; certainly, only a select handful of rivals on disc (Kubelik on DG and Rowicki on Philips pre-eminently) have matched this performance's irresistible symphonic drive. The Eighth is excellent, too: I continue to warm to its keen vigour, textural transparency and unfailing sense of purpose—only a little more nudging affection would perhaps not have gone amiss. Davis's finely-sculpted New World (first-movement repeat included) is another powerful, involving affair—the sublimely articulate orchestral response alone ensures enormous pleasure. Although not as endearingly flexible or evocative a reading as some would prefer (Kubelik's marvellous DG recording remains a miracle of spontaneity in this respect), Davis's directness is always refreshing and never brusque. The result: an impressively cogent, concentrated conception. Apart from some distractingly close balancing in the finale of No. 8, all three symphonies are blessed with Philips engineering of the highest analogue quality.
Truth to tell, I'd forgotten just how good Davis's 1968 version of the masterly Symphonic Variations actually is: sounding admirably fresh still, it's just as effective and unfussily direct a rendering as Kertesz's Decca account (also with the LSO, 11/71—nla) from two years later (that said, it's only fair to point out that both are in turn outflanked by Kubelik's hugely personable, intrepidly fleet Munich performance on DG). Overall, however, this slimline Duo package earns a strong recommendation.'
Truth to tell, I'd forgotten just how good Davis's 1968 version of the masterly Symphonic Variations actually is: sounding admirably fresh still, it's just as effective and unfussily direct a rendering as Kertesz's Decca account (also with the LSO, 11/71—nla) from two years later (that said, it's only fair to point out that both are in turn outflanked by Kubelik's hugely personable, intrepidly fleet Munich performance on DG). Overall, however, this slimline Duo package earns a strong recommendation.'
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