DVORÁK: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 “From the New World”; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / István Kertész – Esoteric stereo-only SACD ESSD-90015, 40:40 – Performance ***** Audio ****1/2:
Antonín Dvořák wrote his last symphony, the Ninth, “From the New World” in 1893 while he was living in the United States. He had gone out to New York in 1892 to become director of the National Conservatory of Music, a post he held until acute homesickness propelled his return to Bohemia in 1895. During his stay in America he became interested in its folk music and this stimulated inspiration for writing several major works including this symphony and the American Quartet.
Although he had great interest in native-American and Afro-American music, the themes in the symphony are all original. The first movement does have a motif reminiscent of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”; the slow movement’s words for “Goin’ Home” were written after the symphony and the music was described by the composer to suggest the sobbing of Hiawatha, and the third movement as dancing at the feast in Hiawatha. A plan to write a cantata or opera based on Hiawatha came to nothing. None of this really matters as the music is so strong and original it stands alone with complete success.
István Kertész (1929-1973) made a now classic recording of the complete cycle of Dvořák’s symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra of whom he was principal conductor from 1965 to 1968, and the Ninth from that cycle dates from 1966.
This earlier recording of the Ninth was made in the Sofiensaal, Vienna, 22-24 March 1961 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The performance is a little more urgent than the later London one, and bears all the fingerprints associated with the VPO. All the strings play with a richness for which they are famed, the Vienna oboe quacks away like no other, and the brass are burnished with fine European tone. The first movement’s climaxes are built carefully yet sound spontaneous though there is no first movement repeat, the slow movement is entirely successful in its pacing, the scherzo dances lightly on its feet and its poco sostenuto provides us with wonderful contrast, and the final movement has enough con fuoco not to sound too hard-driven.
So, we have a truly excellent performance but with no coupling, at a super-premium price and dating from forty years ago. To bolster the excellent performance we are presented with a vintage Decca recording, engineered by James Brown, and remastered by Motoaki Ohmachi, the chief producer and President of Esoteric, from the original tapes via DSD to a hybrid stereo SACD. Esoteric’s flagship D/A converters, model D-01VU, Rubidium master clock generator model G-0Rb and Esoteric Mexcel cables, were all used. Apart from a slight thickening at the greatest climaxes, the recording quality is now shown from this SACD in all its glory. There is little tape hiss, and the upper string sound is smooth and untiring, as close to an analogue sound as you will find on a digital product! Presentation is in the form of a hardback book with Japanese notes, and in English, the sleeve notes from the original LP release.
Kertész’s recording of Dvořák’s Ninth with the VPO is a superb production, and despite the high cost deserves consideration.
— Peter Joelson
[Esoteric SACDs are available to order from Esoteric dealers worldwide, and in Japanese record shops, and an enquiry through Teac’s websites, teac.com or teac.co.uk should provide the whereabouts of the nearest source. UK stockists include Jack Lawson of audiosalon.co.uk, and Nigel Crump of symmetry-systems.co.uk; UK prices are around £30.]
