[9/30/2011] Refresher: In which we take another listen to Dvoŕák's Symphony No. 8 (continued)

Finally we get to hear Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) raise the roof in the Finale of the Dvořák Eighth Symphony -- in his 1961 recording, from this anthology of Decca recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic. (Shh! Don't tell anybody, but afterward we're also going to hear the middle movements from his 1979 EMI recording with the Berlin Philharmonic.)


OKAY, ONE MOVEMENT DOWN,
THREE TO GO -- LET'S PROCEED!

DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 8 in G, Op. 88

ii. Adagio
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Feb. 8 and 12, 1961

iii. Allegretto grazioso (Scherzo)
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Václav Talich, cond. Supraphon, recorded Oct. 29-31, 1951 (mono)

iv. Finale: Allegro ma non troppo
Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, recorded 1961


DVOŘÁK EIGHTH BONUS(ES)

I mentioned that Václav Talich took a leisurely approach to the Scherzo; he also took a notably brisk approach to the first movement, while Herbert von Karajan and Klaus Tennstedt took a notably broader approach to the second. Here's Talich's first movement and Karajan's second, from his 1979 EMI recording, and then we continue on Karajan's notably fleeter-than-most Scherzo!

(Sunday we'll be hearing another distinguished Czech conductor, Václav Neumann, taking what are by international performance standards quickish tempos in the Dvoŕák Seventh Symphony, and I'm going to point out that it's in the context of a band of orchestral musicians whose seemingly inborn instincts are to songfulness.)

i. Allegro con brio
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Václav Talich, cond. Supraphon, recorded Oct. 29-31, 1951

ii. Adagio
iii. Allegretto grazioso (Scherzo)
Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. EMI, recorded January 1979

Well, here we are a mere movement away from completing the symphony, and it was the singular exhilaration of that movement that set me off on the Dvoŕák Eighth to begin with. So let's sneak in an extra performance of the Finale. Hmm, why don't we hear how that Tennstedt-LPO performance, which started out so memorably, turns out? (Quite rousingly, I can tell you -- unhurried and while living the music fully building a good head of steam, notwithstanding the unlovely acoustics of the Royal Festival Hall.)

iv. Allegro ma non troppo
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt, cond. BBC Legends, recorded live, Apr. 2, 1991


IN THE UPCOMING SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

Onwards -- back to Dvoŕák's Seventh Symphony.


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

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