fbpx
5055354411465 t17 image

Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Opp. 46 & 72

More Info

“Right from the start, you know this is going to be a great set of Dvorák’s 16 Slavonic Dances. From the first tutti chord, the spirit, the energy, the power, the grace, the sheer delight of the music is fully present — and it never lets up straight through to the end of the last dance. Every Furiant, every Dumka, every Polka, and especially every Sousedská is brilliantly colorful, melodically memorable and irresistibly danceable. And the truly amazing thing is that this is a nearly forgotten performance released on a budget American label. The Bamberg Symphony isn’t thought of as one of the great European orchestras, but at the time these recordings were made it was staffed mostly by former players from the Deutsches Landestheater in Prague, whose last chief conductors (before the Nazi invasion) had been — in chronological order — Zemlinsky, William Steinberg, Georg Szell and Karl Rankl. So, they were not a ragtag band. But the true reason for the excellence of this disc is the conducting. Antal Dorati was surely one of the finest of the wave of Hungarians — Reiner, Szell, Ormandy, and Solti — that ascended the podiums of America’s great orchestras after the war, and if Dorati’s reputation never matches theirs, it was surely not for lack of technique, talent, or taste. In these 1974 recordings, Dorati pushes the Bamberg players so far beyond themselves they seem possessed by the souls of Bohemians. Although the strings sometimes have trouble staying together, the winds go occasionally out of tune, the brass are intermittently brutal, and the percussion is often crass, the Bambergers play with such complete dedication, such unwavering intensity, and such overwhelming passion that their performances are actually more convincing than many performances by purely Czeck orchestras. And although Vox’s stereo sound is often hard and always shallow, Dorati’s conducting and the Bamberg’s playing easily overcomes these limitations. Although not the only recording of the Slavonic Dances to hear — if you’re only going to hear one, make it the Szell/Cleveland; if you’re only going to hear two, add the Kubelík/Bavarian — but anyone who loves the music will surely love these performances.”

-TiVo

“Doráti shapes his Slavonic Dances with real affection, and his orchestra is extremely accomplished: a delightful disc….The Bamberg Orchestra was formed from Czech musicians who crossed the frontier after the war, so it should feel at home in this music, having recorded these with Keilberth, Lehmann and Talich” 

-Gramophone

Explore More:

Don’t Miss a Recording!

Subscribe to the Musical Concepts newsletter to stay in the know about all our new releases, highlights, playlists, news, and more!

"*" indicates required fields

Hidden

Next Steps: Sync an Email Add-On

To get the most out of your form, we suggest that you sync this form with an email add-on. To learn more about your email add-on options, visit the following page (https://www.gravityforms.com/the-8-best-email-plugins-for-wordpress-in-2020/). Important: Delete this tip before you publish the form.
Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Don’t Miss a Recording!

Subscribe to the Musical Concepts newsletter to stay in the know about all our new releases, highlights, playlists, news, and more!

"*" indicates required fields

Hidden

Next Steps: Sync an Email Add-On

To get the most out of your form, we suggest that you sync this form with an email add-on. To learn more about your email add-on options, visit the following page (https://www.gravityforms.com/the-8-best-email-plugins-for-wordpress-in-2020/). Important: Delete this tip before you publish the form.
Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.