HERBERT VON KARAJAN - HIS LEGACY FOR HOME VIDEO: ANTONIN DVORAK - SYMPHONY # 9 "FROM THE NEW WORLD"

This another example of fenomenal late Karajan. He really got into the inner aspects of this symphony. My most favorite part is the intentional delay in the low string notes just before the first crescendo in the opening movement. It really gets the american indian spirit like no other version does. The performance is magnificent, almost I would like to see it with the Berliner instead of the Wiener. It seems that at the time Karajan was having problems with the Berliner because of his favoritism to a female clarinetist while the orchestra member said she didn't match (she can be seen performing some Beethoven symphonies in other DVDs of this series). But, coming back to this performance, the Wiener philharmoniker is wonderful and the sound is rich and pure. I you already know this piece, you'll rediscover it in this version. I recommend it. --Juan Keledjian Shop here

BERNSTEIN CENTURY : DVORAK NEW WORLD SYMPHONY

Dvorák's New World Symphony is one of my favorites and so I decided to try to find the best rendition based upon my personal view of the work. I was looking for a performance which included a particularly emotive Second Movement (Largo) along with an overall tight performance by the orchestra. To facilitate that end, I first garnered recommendations from participants in Amazon's Classical Music forum. The participants there gave me some terrific suggestions and I ended up with eleven CDs of the work. I played all these performances over and over, making copious notes on each, that I might be enabled to review each one here on Amazon.

I gave all these CDs five stars each chiefly because I fancy this particular symphony so much but some performances were clearly superior to others. To winnow these out so that prospective buyers would have some gauge for deciding which they might want to buy, I additionally assigned my own ranking to the respective CDs, rating them here 1 through 11, Number One being the best. Where my personal thoughts on any two symphonies equaled out, I then fell back upon the secondary material found on each the CDs as a tie-breaker, (only one CD featured the 9th Symphony by itself with no additional selections.) Finally, Amazon only permits a total of 10 links per review so you'll have to check the last ones manually. --Patric W. Crabtree "The Old Grottomaster" Listen to samples

DVORAK'S NEW World SYMPHONY AND OTHER ORCHESTRAL MASTERWORKS

RCA has a vast and incredible library of classical music recordings, particularly in its LIVING STEREO series, and over the years has re-released some of its great titles. One of the more popular and enduring recordings in this series is Fritz Reiner's recording of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. People familiar with the LP version will instantly recognize it distinctive cover with a photograph of the Statue of Liberty, the same monument which would have greeted Dvorak when he first visited the United States and where he was inspired to write this great work.

The showpiece of the recording is Dvorak's 9th. Recorded in 1957, the orchestra has a hearty sound. Both Reiner and the orchestra seem familiar with the work. Reiner moves the work along, and is particularly vigorous in his conducting of the fourth movement, which may not be to everyone's liking, but works well with this recording. The CD also contains three other works that are in keeping with Dvorak's 9th. Two are overtures: a robust version of Dvorak's "Carnival Overture," and a lively recording of Smetena's overture to "The Bartered Bride." The third piece is Weinberger's Polka and Fugue from "Schwanda the Bagpiper." Interestingly, while he conducts the Dvorak's pieces with energy, the Weinberger piece is conducted a bit slower than other recordings of the work.

One bonus of the re-release of the "Living Stereo" recordings is that they contain the original liner notes from the LP. Since this CD is a compilation from two different LP's, the liner notes from both are included in this set. RCA has not re-released as many of the titles as they promised ten years ago when they first opened the vaults. Let's hope some of the other great titles will be released in the near future. Shop here

DVORAK: SYMPHONY No. 9 "FROM THE NEW WORLD"

Antonin Dvorak was born in what is now the Czech Republic. In the 1890's he visited America and developed diverse thematic material for a new symphony, which he would call "From the New World", his 9th. This recording is possibly the greatest interpretation commercially available, and certainly one of the more brand name recordings. I have heard rave reviews about the Karajan version, Bernstein version and even Eugene Ormandy version. But George Solti, no stranger to large-scale orchestral music (having conducted Wagner's Ring on studio recording) is very expert in conducting this Romantic, almost modern work that uses American themes. The opening adagio-allegro is powerful and dark, while the Largo is spiritual in its slower pace. This is where the American themes tie in. The Largo is better known as "Going Home" a Spiritual sung by African slaves in the South. On orchestra, this theme sounds far more poignant and bittersweet. The Scherzo movement is a tad reminiscent of the scherzo from Beethoven's 9th (Dvorak was of course an admirer of Beethoven and since this was his 9th, perhaps he intended to echo it a bit)Musically, it is of course appropriate to the structure of his symphony. It even paints the picture of wild horses running across the plains. The Fourth movement and finale, marked "allegro con fuoco" -Italian for "allegro with fire" is indeed fiery and fatal sounding. It has strong accents and fortissimos and conjures the image of an Indian War Dance. This music is indeed very American, though at this time it lacked jazz to make it complete. It would not be until such later American composers as Aaron Copland and Charles Ives that wrote American symphonic music. --Rudy Avila "Saint Seiya" Shop here

SYMPHONY No.9 E MINOR, OPUS 95, “FROM THE NEW WORLD”

Antonin Dvorak

From time immemorial, the Czechs, or the Bohemians as they used to be called, have been famous as musicians as far as European music was made. In dusty chronicles from the Middle Ages, we find that their names inscribed as pipers and fiddlers to the great dukes and kings of France and Germany. In the eighteenth century, Bohemian composers settled in France; Italy, Australia and Germany, contributing richly to the new symphonic style, many years before Haydn was given his misleading title of “father of the symphony.” Thus Dvorak was following a tradition more ancient than he perhaps knew when he accepted an important musical position in a far-off land and came to teach at the National Conservatory of Music in New York. His New World Symphony became a hymn to the folk spirit of two countries: the united States and Czechoslovakia.

When Anton Seidl conducted the New York Philharmonic in the premiere of Dvorak’s Symphony (on December 16, 1893, in Carnegie Hall), there were hopes that this might prove the starting point of a style of nation American composition. Before the premiere Dvorak had made clear just what he felt the basis of an American school should be.

As a good Romantic, he was convinced that great art-music must grow, plant-like, from the healthy soil of native folk music. This he had no difficulty in identifying for us as the Negro spiritual and the songs and dances of American Indians. Furthermore, having heard Henry T. Burleigh sing spirituals and having studied “a certain number of Indian melodies, which a friend gave me.” Dvorak concluded, rather hastily perhaps, that the music of the Negroes and the music of the Indians were “practically identical.”

Dvorak’s belief in the near-identity of Negro and American Indian music is reflected in the famous English horn melody of the second movement of the New World Symphony, which to most Americans seems steeped in the character of Negro spirituals, whereas Dvorak actually had been inspired, according to his own declaration, by the scene of the forest funeral of Minnehaha in Long fellow’s epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha. The Scherzo, he explained, “was suggested by the scene at the feast in Hiawatha where the Indians dance, and is also an easy I made in the direction of imparting the local color of Indian character to music.”

The Indian peculiarities Dvorak notd seem to be chiefly the tendency to a pentatonic (five-tone) scale, which is common to folk music around the globe, and a modal scale (usually in this case a minor scale with a lowered seventh step) common to most European folk music.

The earliest sketches date from December, 1892. The full score of the Symphony was written out between February 9 and May 24, 1893. It was not given its title, Z-Noviho sveta (“From the New World”) until mid-November, just before it was delivered to Seidl. A public rehearsal aroused tremendous enthusiasm and the premiere on December 16^th was a triumph. The score was published the following year as Dvorak’s Symphony No.5. Actually, it was the ninth symphony he had composed and it is often so designated on present-day programs.

I. Adagio: Allegro Molto A slow introduction foreshadows the main Allegro theme: a bold fanfare for two horns. Flutes and oboes follow with a fetching little tune that twists and turns upon it self. The strongest contrast comes with the famous melody for solo flute irresistibly recalling “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” one of Dvorak’s favorite spirituals. All three themes are developed separately and together, with increasing excitement. The reprise of the opening themes it followed by a triumphant coda.

II. Largo. A solemn procession of chords leads to the celebrated melody of the slow movement. The English horn chants a strain that has been adopted in this country, almost as another spiritual.

III. Scherzo: Molto vivace. We need not be overly concerned whether the opening gaiety is of American Indians or Czech peasants. The beginning and end are fiery and excited. In between there are moments which could conceivably suggest a more relaxed village scene with dancing peasants, a tootling village band and laughing crowd

IV. Allegro con fuoco. A finale of tremendous sweep and splendor id built around the sturdy, assertive theme proclaimed by horns and trombones. Material from earlier movements, recall and combined with the new, concludes this popular score in another burst of triumph…

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op.47

The aesthetic character of this reading of the fifth Shostakovich symphony lies about halfway in-between the apollonian objectivity of Haitink's recording with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw at one end of the spectrum, and the dionysian emotional abandon of Bernstein's 1959 album (not the other, and inferior, 80s recording) with the New York Philharmonic at the other. Both of those other recordings are very good, and each approach reveals different things in this gorgeous score; I find that Neeme Järvi's performance here incorporates many of the virtues of both Haitink's more detached, matter-of-fact reading in some passages and Bernstein's passionate, over-the-top reading in others. It's a marvelous interpretation of a piece that easily has enough depth to convey different shades of meaning with each different approach to it. The ballet suite from The Bolt isn't the score that the Fifth is, but it's captivating and powerful, and since it's rarely heard it makes this disc the best album of the three I've considered here, if you're looking at the program as a whole and not just at the symphony. I can't imagine that anyone who's interested in orchestral music wouldn't really, really like this album. --D. Jack Elliot Listen to samples

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No.5, Opus 47

Dmitri Shostakovick (1906 - 1975)



1 Moderato 2. Allegretto 3. Largo 4.Allegro non troppo

Cellos and double basses open the symphony with a declamatory theme characterized by wide leaps, the violins stating the same theme antiphonally. A short descending figure for first violins soon appears, of which much is made later in the movement. Then the violins begin a lengthy and melodious theme, leading to a passage in which the horns and woodwind are prominently employed. A brief and dissonant climax is reached and a second theme is introduced over a persistent rhythmic figure for lower strings, and the harp. The theme itself, stated by the first violins (espressivo), is again characterized by the wide leaps and plunges in intervals that distinguish the entire movement. Divided violas and cellos antiphonally end this part of the movement with a brief phrase from which proceed solo passages for flute and clarinet. Horns now enter with a pretentious theme over a persistent rhythm for lower strings and piano. The animation increases as strings and woodwind expand the brief descending phrase that occurred at the beginning of the movement. A rapid march section now ensues, brass and wind presenting a jaunty version of presented material, leading to an impassioned return on strings and wind of the opening theme and a tremendous climax in unison for strings and wind. Now the second theme returns presented by flute and born over the insistent rhythm of the strings. Woodwind plays a prominent part; the clarinet, oboe, and bassoon engaging in an extended passage, which leads to a quiet closing section, in which fragments of the leaping theme are presented by trumpet and lower strings, while the celesta adds a somewhat chilling effect as the movement ends. After the heroic cast of the first movement, the second movement (Allegretto) has a gay and boisterous quality that furnishes much needed diversion. The rhythm alternates between ¾ and 4/4 and times; the themes are obvious enough and they recur in more or less the conventional manner of the classical scherzo with its trios and repeats. The solo violin, flute, and bassoon are used with exhilarating effect during the course of the movement; the quartet of horns is prominently employed and the xylophone brightens the texture of music periodically.

For his intense and Rhapsodic slow movement, the composer has dispensed with the brass instruments all together, has divided his violins into three sections, violas and cellos into two, respectively, and relies on harp, piano, and celesta to add bright glints to his orchestral palette. Third violins, first violas, and second cellos begin the movement with an expressive, and at times almost liturgical, section, presenting the main thematic material. This leads to an episode, memorable for its beauty, for the harp and two flutes. The strings again take up the burden of the movement and are soon joined by wind in an impressive passage (largamente). A new and intense episode is now presented by solo oboe and clarinet over a string tremolo. The fervor of the movement is caught by all the instruments as they join in a string proclamation. A new episode is brought forward by the lower strings to the accompaniment of a semiquaver figure by the clarinets and the persisting violin tremolo, which ends in a brief and powerful climax. A descending figure on the cellos restores the quiet intensity of the opening; harp and celesta combine magically with the tremolo of the first violins as the movement ends.

Timpani and brass, as if they had been silent too long, open the finale of the symphony with a stirring them in march rhythm, which is to return periodically to this rondo-like movement. Strings and woodwind soon join in a subsidiary theme, but quickly the march theme makes itself heard from the trombones, bassoons, and lower strings. This is expanded at length, leading to a passage (accelerando) for horns and strings. After a short while, the main theme of the first movement is hinted at by the solo trumpet over a rushing semiquaver accompaniment for wind and string and this material is transformed into a passage of tremendous power. Then a diminuendo brings a contrasting section, opening with a passage for solo horn, which gradually re-establishes the mood of the slow movement.

But the urgency of the march theme is not to be denied and soon timpani and side drum are heard. The excitement mounts as brass and woodwind play with thematic material, while the strings remain silent for a time as the initial enthusiasm of the movement is recaptured. Finally the strings re-enter; the piano and an assortment of percussion instruments join in an apotheosis of the march theme—a musical affirmation of compelling power and sweeping grandeur, for a parallel to which one must go back to Sibelius’s second symphony or some of the symphonies of the nineteenth-century masters.

Tchaikovsky : Symphony No. 5 ; Rimsky-Korsakov : March from Tsar Saltan Suite

This recording was made in 1984, rather early in the relationship between Previn and the Royal Philharmonic. They seem to have been sympatico from the word go. Previn's 1970's recordings of the Tchaikovsky ballets are considered classics in some quarters. I think the same holds true for this symphony. Previn has a beautiful sense of the ebb and flow of the piece, with the strings following his every nuance with full tone and great delicacy. The highlighting of the usually hidden brass parts is one of the great features of this reading, adding color and texture that is often missing from performances of this piece. When Previn reaches the development section of the fourth movement, the tempo really takes off, in a way that is reminiscent of Dorati's great Mercury Living Presence version. All in all, this has to be one of the best Tchaikovsky 5ths in the catalog. The 1984 engineering is very satisfying, too, rather veiled but full bodied and beautifully detailed.--David Saemann Listen to Samples

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.5 in E minor/Fantasy Overture "Romeo and Juliet"

Some of Leonard Bernstein's last concerts with the New York Philharmonic were among his best: Ives 2, the all Copland final program, and I'd have to say that this Tchaikovsky reading fits in there as well. All of the Bernstein recording's are different "views" of the piece, not neccessarily the definitive performance, to counter a review I read for another recording of the same piece. Here everything's very precise, and defined: the final trumpet at the end of the first movement, and the furious final Presto in the finale have never sounded so energetic. I've actually seen the NYPO do this piece twice (with Mehta and Masur), both very fine performances, but even on disc there is a lot of excitement that is found which usually only comes across in the concert hall. It reminds me a little of the Solti/CSO recording I heard a few years ago. The filler, "R&J", is gorgeously done (I'm actually listening to it as I write this) and the Philharmonic rarely sounds better. A very quality sendoff; it's ironic (looking at it now) that this CD was released just a month after LB died. He sould have been allowed to hear this concert again.

SYMPHONY NO.5, E MINOR, OPUS 64

Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

1. Adante; Allegro con anima 2. Adante cantabile, con alcuna licenza
3. Valse Allegro moderato 4. Andante maestoso-Allegro vivace

It is particularly interesting to learn that Tchaikovsky looked upon this symphony which the world now acknowledges as one of his greatest as proof that he was through as a composer. He felt that his creative urge had grown feeble. And when the Symphony was introduced in St. Peterburg, he felt that there was something repellent about it.

Such self-depreciation sounds strange to present-day concert-goers, to whom the Fifth is a favorite symphony, of moving grandeur and majesty. Tchaikovsky himself soon realized that he had been too harsh. After a subsequent performance of the symphony, he wrote, “I like it far better now.” The gloomy, mysterious opening theme.

Suggests the leader, deliberate tread of life. The opening Allegro, after experimenting in many moods, ends mournfully and wearily. The beauty of the Andante is twice broken in upon by the first sombre theme. The third movement he waltz is never really gay : there is always the suggestion of impending fate in it : while at times the scale passages for the strings give it an eerie, ghostly character. At the end of this also there comes the heavy, muffled tread of the veiled figure that is suggested by the opening theme. Finally the last movement shows us, as it were, the emotional transformation of this theme, evidently in harmony with a change in the part it now plays in the curious drama. It is in the major instead of in the minor : it is no longer a symbol of weariness and foreboding, but bold, vigorous, emphatic, self-confident. What may be the precise significance of the beautiful theme of the second movement that reappears in the finale it is impossible to say : but it is quite clear that the transmutation which the first subject of the allegro undergoes, just before the close of the symphony, is of the same psychological order as that of ‘fate’ motive a change from clouds to sunshine, from defeat to triumph.

The repetitious use of the fate motive has given this work the sobriquet of “Fate Symphony”.

Moscow State Symphony Orchestra

In a country whose cultural tradition is rich with extraordinary orchestral ensembles, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra is acclaimed as one of the highest examples of this tradition. Its founder and first Musical Director was Nikolai Anosov, one of the outstanding musicians of his time, whose son Gennadi Rozdestvenski is today one of the best known Soviet conductors.
Under the leadership of Leo Ginzburg, the orchestra cultivated a close relationship with leading Soviet composers including Prokofiev and Shostakovich and made many of the first performances of their works.

With a vast and continually expanding repertoire, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra performs together with the traditional composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rimsky Korsakoff, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Borodin and the great Western Romantic symphonic literature, much new music of the Twentieth century, both Soviet and foreign.

The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, besides touring extensively within the Soviet Union, has also been enthusiastically received throughout major musical centers of the world. The orchestra has taken part in numerous international festivals and has made over 100 recordings, many of which have been awarded prestigous prizes.