This
disc is a modern classic. When first released on the Teldec
label a few years ago, Harnoncourt's New World was
widely acclaimed as the best to have appeared in years. Now
in 2006 it has been re-branded as a Warner Classics release,
and re-priced into the budget bracket (1). The rave reviews
are still justified, and are now enhanced by the added recommendation
of price.
Harnoncourt
eschews tradition for tradition’s sake in the symphony. He
approaches the score afresh, and the result is a reading
both idiomatic and illuminating. Harnoncourt coaxes sparkling
detail from the interplay of strings and woodwinds and allows
the lower brass to come through cleanly. Trombones punch
out the melody at the end of the first movement and the timpani
strokes are crisp. The second movement flows gently, with
beautiful playing from the woodwinds gliding over a lush,
glowing surface of strings. There is no wallowing or point-making
in this rendition of the famous largo. The references
to Beethoven and Smetana in the fleet scherzo do not
call attention to themselves, and the finale is urgent and
majestic.
Taken
as a whole, you have a refreshing and fully integrated performance,
led sensitively from the podium and rendered with pin-point
perfection by the Concertgebouw. There is absolutely no need
to make any allowances for the orchestra's playing in this
exciting live recording. The audience was clearly spellbound:
it is completely inaudible.
It
is useful to have The Water Goblin as a coupling -
Dvořák’s first great tone poem following, on disc as
in life, hard upon the heels of his last symphony. Dvořák
returned to his homeland from his American sojourn and left
his urge to write symphonies behind. Back in Europe, he abandoned
the traditional four movement structure that he and his friend
Brahms had done so much to keep alive, and embraced instead
the symphonic poem of the avant-garde, a form pioneered by
Liszt.
Delving
into Bohemian folklore, Dvořák emerged with a clutch
of gruesome tales which he painted in vivid orchestral colours
as only Dvořák could. The Water Goblin, his first
essay in the form, tells the story of a young peasant girl
who is taken to wife by the evil, lake-dwelling goblin of
the title. Held as a prisoner in her husband’s murky kingdom,
she yearns to return to home to her mother. After much arguing
and begging, the villain relents, but will only allow her
to visit the upper world, and keeps their goblin child as
a pledge of her return. You can guess what happens. She never
returns to the lake, and the enraged goblin dashes their
child to death on her mother’s doorstep.
Dvořák
does not follow the tale literally, but recreates the events
in sounds, using leitmotifs for each character and twisting
them in Wagnerian ways to illustrate moods and emotions,
as well as the action. Warner thoughtfully provides not only
a brief note on the piece in the booklet notes, but also
the programme note from the first performance in Munich in
1898 and explanatory extracts from a letter Dvořák wrote
to Viennese critic Robert Hirschfeld in 1896.
This
recording comes from Harnoncourt's complete studio recording
of the set of symphonic poems and is again superb. The Concertgebouw
is in fine form here too, and the playing and conducting
are most evocative, with the goblin himself emerging, in
sound, as dark and menacing.
So,
how to sum up? If you are looking for Dvořák's symphonic
poems, chances are you will buy a recording of the cycle,
and if you were to purchase Harnoncourt's complete set, this
performance of The Water Goblin would suggest that
you will be more that satisfied. On this disc, The Water
Goblin is a delicious - if ultimately insidious - dessert.
The symphony is the main course.
The New
World has been very well served on disc, with classic
accounts from the likes of Kertész and Kubelik rubbing
shoulders in the catalogue with newer entries. Only last
year, two superb new recordings appeared – an exciting
account from Charles Mackerras on Supraphon (SU 3848-2),
easily eclipsing his earlier effort on Classics for Pleasure,
and an immaculately polished and detailed performance from
Paavo Järvi and the Cincinnati SO in phenomenal Telarc
sound (CD-80616 - see review).
Given
this surfeit of excellence, no one would be foolhardy enough
to proclaim any recording of the New World to be the
best available. I will, however, go out on a limb and declare
that this Harnoncourt recording is the best available recording
in its price range. Kubelik's account is superb, but Harnoncourt
has better sound. Mackerras and Järvi can match the sonics,
but they are both at full price. For the budget-conscious,
Harnoncourt is self-recommending. And for those who can afford
the more expensive discs, why not spend a little extra and
buy this budget account too (2)? Harnoncourt has
something to tell even the most seasoned collector about
this music,
and in a warhorse like this, that is no mean feat!
Tim
Perry
1.
Sadly, in Australia, this disc has been reissued at full
price. Only those in the Old World, it seems, can have the New
World at a reasonable price.
2.
If you are a seasoned Dvořák collector and happy to
forego the liner notes, you can download this album from
Warner Classics' website for a meagre Ł3!
BUY NOW
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Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra/Nikolaus Harnoncourt 
