Adrew Orozco Archive

DVORAK: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 – Andrés Orozco – Estrada/ Houston Sym. – Pentatone

by Audiophile Audition | Jun 18, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

DVORAK: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 – Andrés Orozco – Estrada / Houston Sym. – Pentatone multichannel SACD PTC 5186578 (01/03/16) TT: 76:34 [Distr. by Naxos] ***1/2: Highly listenable performances of late symphonies by the Czech master. Pentatone gives us two lovely Dvorak symphonies on one disc in this new release, which will be part of a series of discs with the Houston Symphony. As most of our readers know,  Dvorak wrote nine symphonies, the last five of which are called his “Mature Symphonies”. Included in this SACD album are Dvorak’s Symphonies nos. 7 and 8, each of which, though different in character, represent the composer at his peak of creativity and energy. Symphony No. 7 gives us a feeling of restlessness. The treatment Dvorak’s homeland had received at the hands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which ruled it, irritated the composer. The lightness of Symphony No. 8, written in his farmhouse in the Czech countryside, is quite a contrast to the 7th. Dvorak’s rural surroundings may have influenced the music’s mood, just as his works written in Iowa, like his New World Symphony, were greatly affected by his external environment. The Houston Symphony led by its Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada, […]