Customer Reviews

Dvorak in Prague - A Celebration / Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Frederica von Stade, Boston Symphony, Seizi Ozawa

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
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I don't see anywhere anything about the most important feature of this Rudolfinum concert in Prague. It includes a good amount of playing by Rudolf Firkusny, visiting his native country, and playing a Humoresque, the song accompaniments, and a mvt. of a piano trio. Firkusny was a great artist in every conceivable way. Please also see his DVD of a recital with violinist Josef Suk (Dvorak's great-grandson) and another with the Dvorak Piano Concerto. All of these were filmed in the "Carnegie Hall" of the Czech Republic, the Rudolfinum. Firkusny left Prague because of the political turmoil, as did his friends Martinu and Rafael Kubelik. He toured the world playing with all the major orchestras, lived in NYC, and taught a few select students at Juilliard. The concert is good. He is great. There is nothing stylistically "czech" about much of the others' playing! (can you spot a TINY memory lapse in the Humoresque?)

The production values of this DVD are outstanding. I was totally captivated and will listen again and again. It is a treasure.

The selected works of Antonin Dvorak - one of the most significant composers of all times - are performed here by the most renowned classical artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Frederica von Stade, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Seizi Ozawa - making this collection a stupendous experience. The music is transcendent, and the performances are brilliant.

I searched for this album after having seen a Fredericka Von Stade video of the Moon Song on the Classic Arts cable channel. I later looked for the video on YouTube and found it there as well. Then, the YouTube posting was forced off the internet due to royalty and copywright issues.

Now I have the album and enjoy it immensely! Fredericka is marvelous of course, but there are performances by YoYo Ma and Itzak Perlman and some choir music that is absolutely divine. Seiji Ozawa is the conductor so you know it will be good.

Don't miss this one!

This all-star music video and the CD version will whet your appetite for more. Dvorak produced more music than his one-time colleague Smetana, and was more beloved even in his lifetime by his fellow Czechs as well as Europeans and the English-speaking world. Listen, view, and you'll see why. I appreciated especially seeing Yo-Yo Ma's joyful serenity in his solos and duet with Itzhak Perlman, and also FredericSmetana - The Bartered Bridea von Stade's soaring "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka. The Moravian Duet excerpt by two excellent sopranos jogged me, next time I visited Prague, to buy a whole CD album of the famous duet cycles, which I had never heard before. You'll get some charming atmosphere from the insertion of a few iconic Prague scenes in the video. If you like these selections, you might well enjoy also "Soli Deo Gratia", a well-composed video biography of Dvorak. I'd recommend also the Dvorak Concertos. If you're a fan generally of Czech music, you must acquire the classic 1981 version of Smetana's "Prodana Nevesta", "The Bartered Bride", featuring Gabriela Benackova and Peter Dvorsky; that DVD is readily available, and inexpensively, from Amazon.

Johannes Brahms had been a member of the jury that awarded Antonin Dvorak the Austrian State Prize several years in succession. Isn't that a more reliable opinion than mine's? Any way, if you already don't know Dvorak this is an excellent opportunity to enjoy it! The New World Symphony was composed in New York between Dec. 1892 and May 1893 while directing the National Conservatory of Music. American music was not the same after Dvorak. He thoght that at that time America had surpassed many others in marevellous inventions and made an honorable place in literature in one short century but those performances were not the same in the art of music. If you are interested in this topic I would strongly recommend you to follow Leonard Bernestein's Young People's Concerts (What is American Music Disc 2, Part 3: Dvorak & The New World Symphony).
It is also impossible not to mention the collection of top performers included in this DVD: Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman , Federica von Stade, Rudolf Firkusny and The Boston Symphony Orchestra led by Seiji Ozawa.
And Prague! Don't you agree?
You add the rest. And your imagination will allow you to enjoy it as many times as you want.

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