Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Symphony no. 6 Op.60 [41:55]
In der Natur Op.91 [14:19]
Carneval Op.92 [9:30]
Othello Op.93 [13:59]
Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra/Jac van Steen
rec. Konzerthaus Dortmund, 19-22 August 2010. Stereo. DDD
MUSIKPRODUKTION DABRINGHAUS UND GRIMM MDG601 1601-2 [80:13]
How do you like your Dvořák, fired with Wagnerian passion or imbued with
gentler Bohemian colours? If it’s the latter, this may be the Sixth Symphony
for you. Jac van Steen and the Dortmund Philharmonic give a coherent and engaging
reading of the work, but it’s not the most passionate or dramatic you’ll hear
on disc. Tempos are steady, without actually being slow, and climaxes are
prepared with expansive rallentandi, which shape the music magnificently,
but don’t exactly ratchet up the tension.
MD&G pride themselves on the quality of their audio production, and the
recorded sound here is up to their usual high standards. The recording was
made in the Dortmund Philharmonic’s home venue, the Konzerthaus Dortmund,
which was completed in 2002 and which on the evidence of this recording has
a very fine acoustic indeed. It also has a very curious logo: a silhouette
of a winged rhinoceros. The precision of the audio reveals an orchestra with
an enviable wind section and a string section that is enthusiastic if slightly
imprecise. The ensemble in the strings often suffers in the louder tuttis,
although they more than make up for it with the marvellous swells they give
to the hairpinned phrases in the more lyrical sections. And the detail of
the sound really lets you hear inside the string section. Dvořák himself
was a viola player, which may help explain his creative use of the viola section
in his orchestration. It’s not something I’d thought of before, but the transparency
of the sound on this recording really lets you hear what the violas are up
to: in the opening, for example, where they play pianissimo triads divisi
with the horns, or their triplet accompaniment figures in the finale.
The exposition repeat is omitted in the first movement. It’s no great loss
really, and the decision may have been taken simply in order to squeeze the
three concert overtures into the CDs running time. In this more laid back
reading, the adagio is the more successful of the inner movements,
especially with the opportunities it offers for the orchestra to show off
its impressive woodwinds and horns. The scherzo is up to tempo, but it doesn’t
quite reach the ‘furiant’ that the composer specifies. Again, the string sound
is a little imprecise, although it is great to hear those viola runs ascending
from the middle of the texture. The pastoral opening to the finale plays to
all of the van Steen’s and the Dortmund Philharmonic’s strengths: atmosphere,
impressively controlled long accelerando and crescendo, and plenty more opportunities
to hear the woodwind. But the tuttis in the finale suffer in this kind of
reading; they’re all too matter-of-fact, without the kind of impact the movement
needs for punctuation.
There is more drama in the overtures Opp. 91-93. The curiously macaronic track-listing
describes the works collectively as ‘Concert Overtures’ then gives the individual
titles in German. I’m familiar with the works under the collective title of
‘Nature, Life and Love’ but it is interesting listening to them together.
Each succeeds as an individual work, but when performed as a single unit their
variable quality becomes clear, particularly the weakness of the Othello
overture in comparison with Carnival. But all are performed with gusto,
Carnival in particular getting the adrenaline going in a way that is
conspicuously absent in the symphony.
Do MDG have any further Dvořák releases in the pipeline? Jac van Steen’s
civilised approach could work well in some of his other works, some of the
more Bohemian tone poems perhaps, or maybe the Fourth or Eight Symphonies.
The combination of a new concert hall and a distinctive orchestral sound is
the ideal subject for the technically accomplished sound engineering of Musikproduktion
Dabringhaus und Grimm. Long may their collaboration continue.
Gavin Dixon