Dvorák -Symphony No. 9

And Suddenly at the Top of the Competition....:
Mariss Jansons at the helm of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra seems to be a marriage made in heaven. Though there are countless recordings of the redoubtable Symphony No. 9 'From the New World' of Antonin Dvorák (including some superb and timeless performances), suddenly all others pale in the splendor of this new Hybrid SACD release from Rco Live. Jansons goes for the majesty of the work, allowing all of the folk tune influences that are the core of Dvorák's works to sing but never to take front stage form the grand architectural sweep of the symphony. The brilliance of the Royal Concertgebouw is legendary and here it virtually glows in the sonics of the performance. Each section is exceptional and first desk solos are among the finest on record. There is an urgency to the rapid movements and a warm mellow flow to the Adagio and the Largo movements. Jansons apparently has found the comunicative niche with this orchestra and we can only expect great things to follow. This is a wondrous recording of a symphony too often dismissed as 'too popular'. Recommended without reservation. Grady Harp, October 05

Swift, Unabashedly Romantic, Interpretation of Dvorak's Most Popular Symphony, But Is It The Best?:
The Dvorak Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" has been one of the most widely performed and recorded orchestral works, ever since it received its world premiere with the composer conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall back in the 1890s. Indeed, there are many legendary recordings made of it, with some of the most notable ones consisting of Rafael Kubelik's celebrated Deutsche Grammophon recording with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Fritz Reiner's with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Istvan Kertesz's with the London Symphony Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnannyi's with The Cleveland Orchestra and Georg Solti's with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. More recently, there have been great recordings from the likes of Ivan Fischer with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Colin Davis with the London Symphony Orchestra, Kurt Masur with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; of these my two personal favorites are Masur's, and especially, Harnoncourt's. To this obviously crowded field of superb recordings, we should add too Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra? But is this recent recording from the Concertgebouw's new recording label one which should be regarded as the definitive version? The answer is yes, but only if your sole criterion is superlative sound quality. My favorite Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra recording of this symphony remains Harnoncourt's, simply because he emphasized not only swifter tempi, but leaner orchestral textures which are a subtle blend of both late 19th Century Romantic orchestral traditions and Dvorak's own deep abiding interest in both Bohemian and American folk song traditions. Here, all Jansons seems to offer are swifter tempi - most notably an incredibly fast first movement which is much faster than virtually all of the aforementioned recordings - and a rather lush, Romantic interpretation which minimizes Dvorak's emphasis on folk songs, in favor of the score's vast orchestral textures. While the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's playing is first-rate, especially from its strings and winds, regrettably, that aspect of this recording seems less interesting simply because of Jansons' rather routine interpretation of Dvorak's score. If you're interested in acquiring a splendid recording of this orchestra performing Dvorak's 9th Symphony, then your choice ought to be Harnoncourt's, which still has superb sound for a late 1990s digital recording. Otherwise, I would strongly advise you to consider the others I've mentioned, with highest honors going to Kubelik's, Reiner's, Solti's, Masur's, Fischer's, Davis's, Dohannyi's, and Abbado's recordings.

Broad and unabashedly Romantic:
This performance of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony by the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest under Mariss Jansons takes it more as a Romantic symphony in the vein of Schubert, underplaying the lilt and dance-rhythms of Bohemia/Czechia, Dvorak's own beloved homeland, focussing more on large, Romantic gestures. As such, I believe it couldn't be played more beautiful, and with a feeling for the over-arching, grand melodic lines, but there certainly are alternatives that are at least as good, like for example Rafael Kubelik's recording with the Berliner Philharmoniker (1973). I guess that first and foremost this performance is for aficionados of the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest under its new chief conductor (of which I am certainly one). Anyhow, this is a beautiful, lushly recorded and nicely idiosynchratic performance.