The first things one notices about this recording are the warm
strings
and mellow brass. Without a doubt this is the best I have yet to
hear
from the Seattle Symphony. Gerard Schwarz also seems a natural
interpreter
of Dvořák. Unlike many of the Naxos CDs featuring this
orchestra
and conductor, the present issue is a new recording and not
something
that was reissued from Delos. Schwarz led the orchestra from 1985
to
2011 and is now Conductor Laureate. Based on this disc recorded in
rich,
vibrant sound, let’s hope he continues to make many more
discs
with them.
I compared this account with those by Kertész and the
London
Symphony, and Bělohlávek and the BBC Symphony. Their
interpretations
are more straightforward than Schwarz’s, and Kertész
is
especially incisive and dramatic. Overall, Schwarz’s tempos
are
a bit slower and he varies speed to a greater degree. He is that
much
more flexible and builds the first movement tutti excitingly. Both
Kertész
and he take the repeat in this movement, while
Bělohlávek
does not. One could argue that the symphony is long enough without
it,
but the themes are so beautiful that I don’t mind at all
hearing
the exposition twice. The
Adagio second movement is
particularly
powerful and dramatic under Schwarz with especially beautiful horn
playing
both near the beginning and later in the movement. Kertész
and
Bělohlávek do not make such a strong impression here,
though
they are certainly idiomatic. Schwarz is more romantic, and the
orchestra
plays with great feeling. Nothing, however, seems overdone to me.
All
three conductors do well in the third movement Scherzo, very
reminiscent
of a Slavonic Dance, with nicely sprung Czech rhythms. With his
greater
flexibility, Schwarz speeds up the ending of the movement more
than
the others, which only adds to the excitement of the dance. At
first
I thought his tempo modulations were a bit too extreme in the
finale,
where he slows the tempo for the theme when the full orchestra
first
gets it (about 45 seconds in) and he tends to vary the tempos in
this
movement more than in the others. Both Kertész and
Bělohlávek
more or less play it straight, but I have become acclimatised to
Schwarz’s
modulations in a movement where the composer’s inspiration
may
be working at a somewhat lower level than earlier in the symphony.
The
Seattle orchestra’s lower brass is also outstanding before
the
coda, and the movement ends in a blaze of triumph. I don’t
plan
on giving away either Kertész or Bělohlávek,
but
am very happy to add this new version to my library.
The disc-mate, Janáček’s early Idyll for strings
is
both unusual and appropriate. If you were to listen to the work
“blindfold”,
you would most likely guess Dvořák, or even Grieg, but
not
the composer of the great operas, Sinfonietta, or the Glagolitic
Mass.
Obviously, Janáček was very much under the shadow of
Dvořák
at the time. Indeed, it predates the symphony by two years. Idyll
is
divided into seven movements that contain enough variety to
sustain
interest, even if one doesn’t go away humming the tunes as
one
does with Dvořák. The moods of the work run from
elegiac
and melancholy to bold and dramatic. The longest movement, the
fifth,
marked
Adagio is my favorite. It begins with a slow and
rather
sad theme and this leads to a faster section that is reminiscent
of
a Slavonic dance, after which it again becomes slow and lyrical.
The
sixth movement is also tuneful with a waltzing theme that shows
hints
of the Janáček’s later Lachian Dances. Overall,
maybe
not a great work and hardly representative of the composer, but
very
pleasant nonetheless. Schwarz and the Seattle strings do the work
proud.
So, Naxos has come up with another winner. I would love to hear
these
performers in the Fifth Symphony, which gets fewer recordings than
the
Sixth. As usual, Naxos does not stint on the presentation with
Keith
Anderson‘s detailed notes on the works, as well as notes on
the
performers.
Leslie Wright
