Customer Reviews

Dvorák: Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9- From The New World (Bruno Walter Edition)

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Though I have not experienced the wide range of recordings of these works that the previous reviewer has, I fell immediately in love with this recording. The work itself is wonderful, full of dynamic colour and a great range of emotions and sounds. But the recording is what pulled me in. A perhaps more sentimental Walter (I have heard much of him) does add a slightly darker and richer feel to the works, but the effect is very nice, especially in the last bars of the New World. The orchestra is in peak form, and Walter directs them incrediably well, in spite of the fact that he has aged. He just seems to be able to feel the piece, which he somehow manages to infuse with energy. I strongly recommend this piece to anyone who likes Dvorak and/or Walter.

As if these two masterworks needed any help, Maestro Walter decided they weren't appreciated enough when he recorded them. So in his patented Bruno style, he's going to make those strings sing and put enough warmth in them to melt Greenland. In other words, he's going to make you LOVE these two symphonies, just as much as he does. I believe Dvorak's 8th might have been one of Walter's last recordings before he died in 1962. I wonder if the old Maestro sensed the end was near, because from the first exhale of notes, there appears to be a slight regret coming those strings. It's by no means schmaltzy, but a burnished bittersweetness that seems to hover over the rest of the performance. And I believe this is supposed to be a "light-hearted" symphony, too. I must say I have never heard quite an interpretation of Dvorak's 8th since, and that includes Kubelik, Dohanyi (cq), Kertesz, Barbirolli and Szell, wonderful performances all. Walter's interpretation of Dvorak's "New World," recorded a few years earlier, is simply a romantic master displaying 60 years of skill, heart and Austro-German know-how. How I wish Walter had recorded Dvorak's 7th as well. Personally, I really don't think you can live with just ONE interpretation of either of these symphonies (I have at least five of the 8th and nearly the same of the 9th) if you claim to like them. So I would suggest if sound quality is not your first requirement for purchase, buy any one of the interpretations mentioned above. And for a second choice, if you want to hear how a truly great conductor JUST DOES IT, Bruno Walter's Dvorak can't be beat. By the way, it makes a great first choice, too!

To know why these recordings are so special one should know Bruno Walter the man. Besides being Gustav Mahler's close protégé, Bruno Walter was a man of keen intelligence and wit. He could make even the most esteemed conductor seem like a fool. In fact he did this to no less than the great Wilhelm Furtwangler. In response to Furtwangler's petty suggestion that some of Beethoven's symphonies were "played out", Walter replied, "If the Eroica really is played out, as you claim, then I can hardly perform it myself, in spite of the 'prestige' involved...I've recently done so much Beethoven in Vienna that, even if I wanted to perform Beethoven at all, there's really no other symphony left to do." Walter was a man who rebelled against musical snobbery. He believed in the power of the musician's creative ability to stamp new and ground-breaking interpretations on the music.

How appropriate, since Walter's rich recordings reveal that he had just such creative talent, now exemplified in these recordings of Dvorak's Eighth and Ninth.

What sets this recording apart given the burgeoning discography of Dvorak's Ninth? Well, I have heard many recordings of Dvorak's Ninth played with fire, however this is the only one played with boundless warmth. Instead of zealous exhortations, we hear in this New World the passion of love. Which is more exciting, racing in a fast car or making love? Both are exciting, if profoundly different.

Walter's birdsong is lifelike, the cellos strive with a silken tone, and the relaxed tempo seems natural under the orchestra's nonetheless taut playing style. Clarity is omnipresent. Unlike many Ninth renditions, where zealotry drowns detail in a muddled conflagration, here you can listen to every note and instrument individually.

The brass in this recording is the one exception, but this proves to be a rare gift. It booms with a deep full-bloodedness, surpassing the strident tones common to most versions. The result is that the brass sounds a little less distinct but that much more potent - the kind of potency that tingles your spine with chills like wind off a glacier.

For those expecting a Ninth hurtling at breakneck and indigestible speeds, this recording is not the ideal. Walter's rendition encourages the listener to savor Dvorak, delving and immersing oneself in his musical emotions. I recommend that any fan of these symphonies acquire 2 versions - one of high drama and fire (e.g. Karel Ancerl on the Supraphon label) and one of endless warmth and joy (e.g. this recording!).

This is a fabulous recording. I bought it for the 8th as I already has a copy of the 9th that I've enjoyed very much. But both the 8th and the 9th on this disc are absolutely tops. Performances are tops. Sound quality is tops.

Bruno Walter totally lacked the quality known as 'romantic agony'. (He barely had romantic stomach ache.) In its absence he never quite captured Beethoven as a struggling, self-doubting revolutionary, but in Dvorak Walter found a personality like himself who was incapable of seeing the cloud inside the silver lining. Their kinship shows in these beautifully optimistic readings, particularly of the Dvorak Eighth. Like his Beethoven Pastorale from Los Angeles in the same period (1958-61) this Eighth is one of the hghlights of Walter's recording career. It has energy, guts, songfulness, and dance. The Columbia Sym. plays out with more heroism than they ever gave Walter in the Beethoven Fifth--all in all, a first choice for this work.

Walter's New World Sym. isn't nearly as famous, but it has every virtue as the Eighth. One notices in both works that the orchestra is not as large as most philharmonics, which has the advantage of bringing the woodwinds to the fore but the disadvantage that the Ninth lacks heroic stature. This Ninth is very natural and untroubled. I suppose the severest objection would come in the finale, which is quite leisurely compared to the breakneck race it's often turned into. If you want more light and shade, this isn't the reading for you, but I found it refreshing to hear the whole symphony as a festival dance.

Listened to the 3rd and 4th movements of the 9th symphony, and found the entire experience uncomfortable. The tempos get uncomfortably slow for my taste, the orchestra lacks dynamic range and tone. I hate to bring it up but there are even some glaring intonation and ensemble issues (listen to the sample of the 3rd movement, trombones) - those looking for a solid recording of the 9th should look elsewhere.