Customer Reviews

Dvorak: Requiem/Symphony 9

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very special recording which goes right to the top. I've been a fan of Kertesz's wonderful recording since it was released but this goes beyond outstanding. Macal's pacing, dynamics, phrasing, sense of tension, balance, etc. combine to make this a performance where everything comes together. The New Jersey forces sound Czech! The recording is also first rate. Macal clearly is the Dvorak interpreter of our age. This is a breathtaking experience. (And why is this incredible piece so rarely heard? It is the equal of Verdi's in my book.) Bravo Zdenek!

I am not joking whn I say that this very well could be the best requiem out there!!! I am not a giant fan of Dvorak, but this is absolutely stellar! Favorite mvmts: Tuba Mirum (the modulation to Eb major at the end was nothing short of incredible) and the Offertorium. Uses of phrase is wonderful, and excellent example of the proper use of leitmotiv. A must-have for any choral music lover!!!

Two fine performances splendidly recorded. The Requiem is big and romantic, sung and played with conviction, if without just that last ounce of vocal depth that would make it a great performance. The 9th is a very good performance, lacking just that special spring in the step that marks the still-classic Kertesz. No hesitations with the sound, which is 5 star. A very worthwhile set at a very good price.

This is simply the best recording of the Dvorak's Requiem on the market. Mr Macal is able to make the New Jersey Symphony sounds Slavic with the strong and clear rythmic patterns without loosing the flexibility in the almost gospel part "quia pius es". Although I dont agree with the choice of Latin pronunciation made by the conductor, it doesnt affect in any way the quality of the work. The choir is probably the best professional symphonic choir in the US and all the four soloists are excellent. I was specially surprised with the voice of the Bass Gustav Belacek, with a very special and gorgeous timbre, he is extremely flexible in both high and low registers. His musical intentions are very clear, his diction is perfect, and the passion with which he sings this music makes anyone believe in the dramatic text of the Requiem. I highly reccomend this recording !

I can't stop listening to this album. These two moving pieces are beautifully performed. Anyone who knows the better known symphony and is unfamiliar with the Requiem, as I was, should buy this album. You will find you have a new favorite. As a regular attendee at New Jersey Synphony concerts, I am prejudiced toward Maestro Macal. He is amazing, and he's done it again, demonstrating that the New Jersey Symphony has moved into the ranks of the best orchestras in the country. And let us not forget the singers - the Westminster Symphonic Choir and each soloist were stunning.

If Dvorak's setting of the Stabat Mater was greatly overshadowed by his famous orchestral works, his Requiem mass was overshadowed by his entire opus. After receiving great accolades, especially in England, for his Stabat Mater (also released on Delos under Macal), audiences wanted more, thus the Dvorak Requiem is born. While echoes of previous Requiem settings (Berlioz, Cherubini, and Verdi) exist, especially Verdi, the work is Dvorak's own. Set in two parts with an optional intermission, Part One encapsulates the Requiem Aeternam through the entire Dies Irae sequence and Part Two covers the Offertory through the Agnus Dei, all totaling just over 90 minutes.

The music is engaging. Of particular note is the short chromatic motif announced in unison at the very beginning, a melody that evokes a little fear as well as a feel of chant-like simplicity, and is used constantly throughout the work, giving the entirety the unity that other Requiem settings lack. The orchestration is imaginative (a nod to the bass clarinet) with occasional odd timbres, bringing images involved with the text. The harmonies are at times old-fashioned and other times totally unexpected and forward-looking. As opposed to Verdi, Dvorak judiciously uses fugal/imitative sections (perhaps 3 times total) for dramatic effect. Part 1 is commenting on departed souls, more somber and fearful, while Part 2 is prayerful and hopeful with an exciting fugue ending the Offertory and Hostias.

The vocal parts are performed here by the Westminster Choir College, always a first-rate performance. The parts are not especially difficult, but they make the most of the music with crisp diction, wide dynamic interpretations, and sensitivity. They also have opted for Germanic Latin pronunciations. The soloists are also very fine. The famous tenor John Aler is great, and the lesser known soloists are excellent (the soprano sometimes a bit wild).

The music of the Requiem is exciting and fresh, and certainly worthy of a look. As a bonus, is 40 more minutes of music with the famous Symphony No. 9 "New World". Zdenek Macal, a native born Czech, is at home here, not giving a "folky" sound, but a purely classical one. Along with the Virtual Reality sonics, textures and inner parts that have gone unnoticed before, come out, giving a freshly unique performance, one which suprisingly rivals many classic recordings. The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under Macal, while not a top world-class orchestra, plays amazingly well in both works. Macal asks for fire, sumptuousness, romance, etc., the orchestra responds. Highly recommended just for the Requiem, with the added bonus of an astounding Symphony No. 9, a must have. Try something different with this recording!

As other reviewers on this page note, Zdenek Macal gives us a wonderfully idiomatic Dvorak Requiem--and a pretty wonderful Ninth Symphony, though most listeners will have other (maybe many other!) recordings of this warhorse that they are happy with. I don't know that Macal makes the New Jersey Symphony sound especially Czech; in fact, in the symphony, I'm glad for a slight New World brashness in their playing. But the beautifully modulated orchestral writing in the Requiem is very well handled by the New Jerseyans. Not too far behind is the Westminster Choir, which sings with admirable clarity and enthusiasm if not the heft you'd get from a professional chorus. However, the most enliving music in the piece, the marvellous choral fugue on Quam olim Abrahae, is a thorough delight. I'm left smiling after this section.

The sound, too, is big and refined, clean and airy, although as one British reviewer has remarked, this is a hybrid surround-sound/stereo recording, and the fact will bring problems on some systems. Listening on my computer's sound system (not the best place perhaps, but I do have good-quality speakers), I, like the reviewer, noticed that the violins came from the right channel: kind of surprising, and not in a good sense. Then, too--while I have no gripe with most of the soloists and in fact find John Aler a perfect, fresh-voiced tenor here--the bass, Gustav Belacek, is weak and wobbly throughout. I'm pretty sure that in playback Mr. Macal must have been disappointed that this guy just about single-handedly derails an excellent performance. If you can filter Belacek out as you listen, that's great. But he really grates.