Dvorák Symphony No 1; The Hero's Song
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Antonín Dvořák
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 4/1989
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 74
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN8597
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Symphony No. 1, 'The Bells of Zlonice' |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Neeme Järvi, Conductor Royal Scottish National Orchestra |
| Heroic Song |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Neeme Järvi, Conductor Royal Scottish National Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Antonín Dvořák
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 4/1989
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ABRD1291
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Symphony No. 1, 'The Bells of Zlonice' |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Neeme Järvi, Conductor Royal Scottish National Orchestra |
| Heroic Song |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Neeme Järvi, Conductor Royal Scottish National Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Antonín Dvořák
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 4/1989
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ABTD1291
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Symphony No. 1, 'The Bells of Zlonice' |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Neeme Järvi, Conductor Royal Scottish National Orchestra |
| Heroic Song |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Neeme Järvi, Conductor Royal Scottish National Orchestra |
Author: Edward Greenfield
The first of Dvorak's nine symphonies and the last of his symphonic poems come here in a generous coupling, both of them among the longest works he ever wrote in each genre. The only rival version of the symphony on CD is the Kubelik, and that only comes in the six-disc DG set of the complete cycle. As for The Hero's Song, this is a real rarity. It is in fact the very last orchestral work that Dvorak wrote, in 1897 some seven years before his death. Unlike earlier symphonic poems, it has no specific programme, though the journey from darkness to light in the unspecified hero's life is clearly enough established. The contrast with Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben, written simultaneously and heard first only four months after the Dvorak piece, could hardly be greater with its sharply specific programme. Dvorak's crisply dramatic opening motif makes a very promising start, and in Lisztian fashion he uses it as the basis for most of the thematic material. The disappointment is that the piece, unlike Strauss's, fails to rise to the full heroic challenge of the concluding sections. Though Dvorak can more readily convey happiness than almost any other composer, he tends here to fall into bombast when nobility is demanded. None the less Jarvi directs just the sort of red-blooded performance which the piece needs, if its weaknesses are to be minimized. Not that those weaknesses are so great as commentators have tended to suggest. This is a very welcome addition to the catalogue.
If at over 21 minutes the symphonic poem is on the long-winded side, so is the symphony. I am sure that Dvorak, had he been able to, would have revised it and trimmed it, but he never had the chance. After he sent the score as an entry in a German competition, he never had it returned. It reappeared only many years after his death. Whatever its structural weaknesses, the piece is full of colourful and memorable ideas, often characteristic of the mature composer. Jarvi directs a warm, sometimes impetuous performance, with rhythms invigoratingly sprung in the fast movements, and with the slow movement more persuasive than in either of the two versions I have used for comparison, not just the Kubelik—where it is taken markedly faster—but the Kertesz/Decca version, which could well reappear on CD as have others in his cycle. Jarvi, like Kubelik, does not follow one distinctive point of the Kertesz, and has the full viola section playing, not just a viola solo, in the reprise of the first movement's second subject. My one notable criticism of Jarvi's performance is that, though the last two movements remain just as tense and energetic as the first, the ensemble is at times not quite so crisp.
The recording, warmly atmospheric in typical Chandos style, is among the best in this series, not always clean on detail but firmly focused. I have never heard the Brucknerian fanfares in the slow movement more persuasively done.'
If at over 21 minutes the symphonic poem is on the long-winded side, so is the symphony. I am sure that Dvorak, had he been able to, would have revised it and trimmed it, but he never had the chance. After he sent the score as an entry in a German competition, he never had it returned. It reappeared only many years after his death. Whatever its structural weaknesses, the piece is full of colourful and memorable ideas, often characteristic of the mature composer. Jarvi directs a warm, sometimes impetuous performance, with rhythms invigoratingly sprung in the fast movements, and with the slow movement more persuasive than in either of the two versions I have used for comparison, not just the Kubelik—where it is taken markedly faster—but the Kertesz/Decca version, which could well reappear on CD as have others in his cycle. Jarvi, like Kubelik, does not follow one distinctive point of the Kertesz, and has the full viola section playing, not just a viola solo, in the reprise of the first movement's second subject. My one notable criticism of Jarvi's performance is that, though the last two movements remain just as tense and energetic as the first, the ensemble is at times not quite so crisp.
The recording, warmly atmospheric in typical Chandos style, is among the best in this series, not always clean on detail but firmly focused. I have never heard the Brucknerian fanfares in the slow movement more persuasively done.'
Dvorák Symphony No 1; The Hero's Song
Dvorák Symphony No 1; The Hero's Song
Dvorák Symphony No 1; The Hero's Song
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