Customer Reviews

Dvorāk: Slavonic Dances Nos. 1 & 3 / Goldmark: Rustic Wedding / Humperdinck, Smetana

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Dvorak is the composer printed prominently on the cover, but it's Goldmark's Rustic Wedding Symphony that is the star of this show. This relatively neglected but delightful work deserves to be as popular as Dvorak's 9th Symphony. Bernstein's is the the best stereo recording of the piece that I've heard.

Bernstein could be very effective in certain works - his Mahler 7th immediately springs to mind. Unfortunately, what we have here is not very idiomatic conducting. Compare these hammy renditions of Dvorak & Smetana to those by just about any Czech (but especially Talich and Sejna) and I think you'll find that the latter are far more "in the vein." The chief attraction here is the lovely "Rustic Wedding Symphony" by Karl Goldmark. Why this wonderful work isn't better known is a mystery to me - it's just the sort of thing that might bring audiences back into the concert halls. What melodic, life-affirming music!

Unfortunately, this Bernstein isn't the best way to hear the Goldmark. It's played too hard - and frankly, the NY Phil. often sounds like an aggressive high school ensemble here. There were once treasurable recordings from Vienna by more sympathetic interpreters like Heger and Swoboda. But the finest of all was the Beecham/Royal Philharmonic - one of the most heartwarming and endearing performances of anything on disc. It's available in England on Sony - and possibly in the U. S. as an import.

I had heard one of the Slavonic Dances on my local classical music station and thought that Bernstein's interpretation was excellent! It was different than most readings and "Lenny" made the piece novel and very interesting. Next I checked and read some reviews. They made this CD sound rather "ho-hum," but I decided to buy it anyway. I still enjoy that Slavonic Dance every time I play it, but in its entirety, this CD generally is a lack-luster set of performances. The New York Phil can be brilliant, but sometimes they just crank out the war horses, almost like circus band. In my view, this was mostly a recording session to "crank out the war horses."