After Baroque: Music for the Natural Trumpet

Marches, Fanfares & Divertimenti by:

L. Mozart, CPE Bach, W.A. Mozart, Ott, Gebauer, Diabelli, Starzer, R. Wagner, Neukomm, Daverne, Dvorak, Epstein & Britten

The Seattle Trumpet Consort - Original Classical OC 33001

I purchased this CD because of the inclusion of the two Divertimenti for 2 Flutes, 5 Trumpets & Drums K187 & 188 (K240b.) Yes, I know that K187 Is a compilation of movements by Starzer and Gluck arranged by Leopold Mozart in 1773, but this is the only recording on original instruments of both these works. There is plenty of music here for everybody ranging from the 18th to the 20th Centuries.

[Flac & Scans]

Dvorak: Cello Concerto; Tchaikovskij: Rococo Variations - Rostropovich, Karajan, Berliner Phil.

Antonin Dvorak: Cello Concerto;
Petr Tchaikovskij: Rococo Variations
Mstislav Rostropovich, Herbert Von Karajan,
Berliner Philharmoniker
Deutsche Grammophon CD

.ape + .cue + .log

Another great classic, with my favorite cello concerto. I'm sure there's plenty of reviews around, but I'll try to check later if I can found one. For the time being: just the music and the cover. I doubt you'd rather have it the other way around...

Dvorak: Symphony No.6, The Golden Spinning-Wheel - Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Mackerras

Antonin Dvorak
Symphony No.6, The Golden Spinning-Wheel
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras
Supraphon- SU 3771-2 031(CD)

Classics Today Rating: 10/10

In his equally laudatory review of this fantastic new release, my colleague Christophe Huss salutes Supraphon for managing to remain true to its dedication to Czech music while at the same time upholding the highest standards of performance quality. To this observation I can only add "Amen!" The label already has a couple of noteworthy versions of Dvorák's luminous Sixth Symphony with the incomparable (in this music anyway) Czech Philharmonic--a very good one by Neumann and a classic account by Ancerl. In fact, this symphony has been very well-served on disc, with excellent recordings by Kubelik, Rowicki, and Suitner, to name three of the best that come immediately to mind. Nevertheless, this newcomer bids fair to move right to the top of the available discography.

Recorded live, the rapport in evidence between Charles Mackerras and the orchestra really is the stuff of legends. There are so many outstanding moments that it's hard to settle on just a few, but consider the fortissimo counterstatement of the opening tune, just a touch "pesante" for added emphasis, or the gorgeously natural rubato between phrases of the same movement's second subject, and the way the coda really takes off and builds in energy straight through to the final climax. Then there's the usual gorgeous wind playing from the orchestra, so evident in the Adagio. Mackerras drives the scherzo with exhilarating abandon, and although he never bears down on the rhythm too heavily (always maintaining the lilt of the dance), the clarity of texture allows such characterful touches as the offbeat timpani in the reprise to register with full impact. I also love the extra punch he brings to the principal section's return after the trio.

Best of all, Mackerras treats us to what must be the most thrilling account of the finale yet captured on disc. It takes off like the wind and never looks back, simply accumulating energy as it goes. The great string fugato that initiates the coda flies by as if on mighty wings, and the grandiosity of the closing pages never loses that vital rhythmic impulse that gives the music its inner life. I wish that Supraphon had not included the applause at the end, but when you consider that all of this, and so much else besides, is happening in real time you will understand that anyone who believes that the era of "great" conductors is past simply hasn't been listening. If this sort of artistic communion between conductor and orchestra in the service of a brilliant interpretation isn't greatness, then we need to ask whether the term has any meaning at all.

The Golden Spinning Wheel (a studio recording this time) also receives what is arguably its finest performance on disc, even considering Harnoncourt's outstanding recent version. The opening, usually a blur of muddy rhythms in the lower strings and indifferently played percussion, here sounds as crisp and clean as a spring morning. I have never understood why some performances cut the central episode wherein the holy hermit gets back the heroine's various body parts (so he can patch her together again) in exchange for the components of the golden spinning wheel. The threefold musical repetition is not literal, and the orchestration is enchanting. The section is, in effect, the slow movement following the scherzo in which poor Dornicka gets hacked to bits in the first place, and it's a necessary four minutes of contrast. Finally, this is the moment where we encounter most of the "spinning wheel" music of the title. Mackerras rightly doesn't delete it, and hearing those deliciously chubby brass chorales and lovely wind solos alongside such characterful phrasing, you can't imagine why anyone would. The last few minutes offer as pure an expression of joy as you'll ever hear.

Supraphon's engineering is outstanding in both works, a touch warmer in the symphony (perhaps as a result of the presence of an audience), but in all respects as fine as any from this source. That audience, by the way, is absolutely silent, and with music-making of such spellbinding quality going on it's no wonder. Coming hard on the heels of his sensational Janácek double CD a few months ago, it's clear that Mackerras' Supraphon recordings will comprise a small but outstanding legacy worthy to stand beside the great recordings of such legends as Talich or Ancerl, and that the great Czech tradition is very much alive both in Prague and at Supraphon. Buy a few of these: they make terrific gifts for special occasions, and you can be sure to get a hearty "Thank you!" from the lucky objects of your affection. But first, treat yourself. [6/11/2004]

--David Hurwitz

Dvorak: Symphony No.7, Suite in A major ('American') - Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer

Antonin Dvorak
Symphony No.7, Suite in A major ('American')
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer
Channel Classics- 30010(SACD)

Classics Today Rating: 9/9
Unlike the release of the Eighth and Ninth symphonies, which are reissues of earlier Philips recordings, these performances are new, and quite beautiful. The Suite never has been done better; its melodic freshness and rhythmic verve leap from the speakers, and like all of Dvorák's supposedly "light" music it proves rather more substantial than you might at first suspect, especially when it's this well-played. As the title suggests, this is a late work, dating from the composer's stint in New York, and it's full of the same kind of tuneful, possibly African-American inspiration that we find in the "New World" Symphony, the Cello Concerto, the "American" Quartet, and the contemporaneous String Quintet.

There's a great deal of competition in the symphony, and Ivan Fischer does particularly well in two particular ways. First, he doesn't monkey with the orchestration in the powerful coda of the finale or in the fortissimo counterstatement of the first movement's opening theme. Amazingly, in this latter passage the winds cut through the texture with perfect clarity, bespeaking the performers' thorough preparation and attention to details of ensemble balance. Second, his scherzo is amazing: fleet, gorgeously light on its feet, and (at the return after the trio) simply exciting as hell. Only in the first movement does Fischer sometimes sound a touch stiff (though again, the climax toward the end is powerful).

Sonically, there's plenty of warmth and depth (particularly in SACD multichannel format), but the loud tuttis turn a touch opaque. A bit more presence from the trombones and timpani could have turned an otherwise very fine performance into a great one. Still, this is awfully good, and if the coupling interests you then by all means enjoy this release without qualms. [6/15/2010]

--David Hurwitz

Dvorak: Symphonies Nos.8&9 - Prague Symphony Orch., Mackerras

Antonin Dvorak
Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras
Supraphon- SU 3848-2(CD)

No comment from me.
I didn't even get get a chance to listen to this one yet...

Classics Today Rating: 10/10

At 80 years young, Charles Mackerras remains one of the great conductors of our era, not to mention one of the most unheralded. His unfailing musicality, intelligence, and sheer joy in performing communicates vividly in these two glorious performances, beautifully recorded live in September, 2005. They are the kind of interpretations that make you listen as if for the first time to music you probably know well. This isn't just because Mackerras opts for the Urtext editions of both scores, most noticeable in the finale of the Eighth Symphony, where after the central climax he has the cellos play the variant of the main theme contained in Dvorák's autograph (Harnoncourt and a few others do similarly). What really distinguishes these performances is their sheer excitement and vital sense of flow, a function of rhythmically characterful phrasing allied to ideally transparent textures.

This is as true of the bucolic first two movements of the Eighth Symphony, where the woodwinds are especially delightful, as it is in the tremendously physical and passionate initial allegro of the Ninth. Has this movement's coda ever sounded more stormily agitated? And notice how marvellously Mackerras judges the tempo of the ensuing Largo, perfectly poised between rapt contemplation and easeful forward motion. Rhythmic acuity is the hallmark of both scherzos: a deliciously pointed waltz in the Eighth, and a swiftly vivacious Slavonic dance in the Ninth.

In the two finales, so often turned into stop-and-start affairs by less adept conductors, Mackerras creates an irresistible feeling of culmination, choosing rousing initial tempos and then for the most part sticking to them. The Eighth's concluding variations seldom have come across more cogently, particularly the lazy last three, which never bog down in excessive Romantic reverie. The Prague Symphony Orchestra responds to Mackerras' direction with amazing gusto, as if it doesn't already know the music backwards and forwards, and the audience is admirably silent. There are other wonderful performances of this music out there, but this truly is as good as it gets. [12/01/2005]

--David Hurwitz

Dvorak: Symphonies Nos. 7, 8, 9 - Neumann, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Antonin Dvorak

Symphonies Nos. 7, 8, 9

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Vaclav Neumann

Supraphon- SU 3705-2 032(CD)



.flac+.cue+.log



Filling and embarassing Dvorak vacuum here at MIMIC. Even Hurwitz agrees it's a goody! We can now safely aim for unanimity.



Classics Today Rating: 10/10

Václav Neumann concludes his remarkable Dvorák symphony cycle on a high note, turning in what is arguably the finest and most consistent set of the last three symphonies since George Szell. All of the competition in this area has problems: Kubelik's Seventh isn't fabulous, and neither is Kertesz's (who did a better "New World" in his earlier VPO rendition). Rowicki, also less good in the Seventh than in the later two works, like Kertesz has an LSO whose playing is no match for that of the Czech Philharmonic. Colin Davis and the Concertgebouw offer a stunning Seventh and a decent "New World", but an unremarkable Eighth. Järvi turns in fine accounts of Nos. 8 and 9, but makes heavy going of the Seventh, and he's cavernously recorded too. Neumann, by contrast, shines in the Seventh, perhaps Dvorák's greatest symphony. His attack on the first movement's climax remains unrivaled, and he milks the finale's tragic foreboding for all it's worth but never lets the music bog down (those marvelous Czech winds help a lot too).



The Eighth is noteworthy for its effortless sense of flow, and also for a finale that, in the Czech tradition of Talich, takes the scherzo variations in tempo yet still has sufficient rhythmic kick to provide an exciting conclusion. Neumann recorded the "New World" Symphony more times than I care to count, his last efforts revealing sadly diminished capacity. This is his best version, a "traditional" performance in the sense that it doesn't bring new revelations to this oft-played symphony, but it's also one whose feeling of "rightness" (note the beautifully relaxed yet seemingly self-propelled Largo and the trenchantly argued finale) married to superb playing places it among the handful of great accounts. Supraphon's first-rate sonics also distinguish this, the most consistently excellent of all complete Dvorák symphony cycles, from the rest of the pack. Supraphon's happy decision to offer the nine symphonies in sets of three also means that you don't have to commit to the whole production until you've had a chance to sample--but sample you certainly should. [3/22/2003]



--David Hurwitz

Dvořák: Piano Quintet Op81, Piano Quartet Op87 - Schiff, Panocha Quartet

To entertain these fair well-spoken days...
...we shall continue our series The Late Post-Baroque, or What Happened After 1760?

András Schiff, Panocha Quartet: Jiří Panocha (violin), Pavel Zejfart (violin), Miroslav Sehnoutka (viola), Jaroslav Kulhan (cello)

recorded in Berlin, 1997
(Elatus reissue out of print; the Teldec original still pops up from time to time)

Dvorák - Old World - New World / Emerson String Quartet

Antonin Dvorák
Old World - New World
Emerson String Quartet
Deutsche Grammophon 001410602

The latest release from The Emerson String Quartet, winner of 9 Grammys, is an album of works never recorded during the course of their 30-year career.

The release of Old World–New World has been a long cherished dream and features the Emerson’s favorite Dvorák middle and late string quartets.

A bonanza of romantic melody, not a note on this 3-CD release has ever before been recorded by the Emersons. Also includes Dvorák’s youthful and infrequently performed song cycle on the subject of love, Cypresses, which provides a compelling thematic trove for several of these enamoring quartets.

R E V I E W:

In these Dvorák scores the Emerson maintains an impressive and consistent standard of playing that few other quartets can achieve.

Dvorák composed some of these scores during his exile in the USA and others in his home city of Prague; hence the set title. We are told in the booklet notes that the Emerson have never recorded any of these works before. With such a theme it feels like an oversight not to have included the popular String Quartet No. 12, Op. 96, B. 179 (1893) known as the ‘American’ as it would have sat perfectly within this collection. The Emerson have in fact already recorded the score.

Few composers can match the Bohemia-born Dvorák’s emphasis on melodic invention and sparkling lyricism. This is coupled with a rich and individual coloration often deeply rooted in his native Slavic folk music.

The first disc opens with the earliest completed work here the String Quartet No. 10 from 1878/9. Brahms had by then become a staunch champion of Dvorák. Earlier in 1876 the great German composer had written a letter of recommendation to the publisher Simrock. The E flat major Quartet, B. 92 was composed in response to a commission for a “Slavonic” work from Jean Becker the founder and leader of the Florentine Quartet. For this reason the score is sometimes called the ‘Slavonic’. Only a short time later, in 1881, Dvorák wrote his String Quartet No. 11 for the Viennese Quartet led by its founder Josef Hellmesberger Sr.

Disc two commences with one of Dvorák’s best known chamber works the String Quintet No. 3 in E flat major ‘American’. This specifies an extra viola and was written in 1893 during his three year stay in the United States working at the New York National Music Conservatory. Dvorák holidayed at the Bohemian colony at Spillville, Iowa and there his writing became inspired both by African-American spirituals and by ritual music of the Native Americans. Sister works to the ‘American’ Quintet that were also composed during his stay in the USA include the String Quartet No. 12 ‘American’ and the Symphony No. 9 ‘New World’.

The 12 Cypresses for string quartet, B. 152 originate from 1865 when as a young man Dvorák composed a set of love songs based on the work of the Moravian poet Gustav Pfleger-Moravský. He arranged twelve of the songs in 1887 as string quartet movements; the title Cypresses was conferred at the time of their publication in 1921. Unfortunately in the booklet the titles are not given.

The third disc of the set has Dvorák’s two final quartets both completed in 1895 after returning to work at the Prague Conservatory. The String Quartet No. 13 took Dvorák only a few weeks to write. A frequently overlooked masterwork of the genre the String Quartet No. 14 had been started in New York and was completed in Prague. Overshadowed by the enduring popularity of the ‘American’ Quartet it is a shame that these two quartets are not played as often as their quality deserves.

Formed in 1976 the award-winning New York City-based Emerson Quartet use traditional modern strung instruments. It seems a pointless exercise to go through the performances of each quartet movement individually as the Emerson maintain throughout an impressive and consistent standard of playing in a way that few other quartets could achieve. With fine musicianship the players handle the challenges of the varying emotional depth and meter of the scores with accomplishment. I noted that they eschew any temptation unnecessarily to exaggerate dynamics. In the ‘American’ Quintet violist Paul Neubauer fits in seamlessly with the group. I never felt any lack of emotional attachment; an unfair criticism sometimes levelled at this elite group. Their technical command and precision is legendary and their tone has been closely recorded to great advantage by the DG engineers. It would be hard to imagine these scores played better.

-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International