No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 14-NOV-2000
CD Reviews
Surprising work...
Matthew Haag | Lebanon, PA | 08/02/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I bought this CD not knowing that much about Dvorak or where these pieces fit in to his overall body of work. I only knew I loved his ninth symphony since I first heard it in a college music class. I wanted to explore his music further and this CD was my first sojourn into Dvorak's music beyond the ninth. It was not a bad place to start.
Legends should be viewed as a counterpoint to Dvorak's Slavonic Dances. They were written in between the two cycles of Slavonic Dances and, while originally written for piano, Dvorak orchestrated them with a colorful, yet restrained use of the orchestra. I came to Legends before actually hearing the Slavonic Dances. Having now heard both, Legends shines more as a cycle greatly diverse and adventurous in its moods and style. While more relaxing and subdued than the Slavonic Dances, it is still equally melodic and engaging.
However, what makes this disc worthwhile is not Legends, but what else is included. Minatures (what I have since found is a slight reworking of Dvorak's Romance for Piano and Violin, hence the op. 75a), is absolutely wonderful and positively the highlight of the disc. Dvorak was a viola player and he knew how to write for strings. While relatively short (the first two movements are only around three minutes each) the work as a whole carries delightful pulsing melodies. Like Legends, it also strikes very distinctive moods, yet manages to retain an intimate and warm quality that makes for a fine listening experience.
This CD also benefits from being recently recorded in 1999. Several of Dvorak's works, while propelled by great performances, were recorded 20-30 years ago and do not benefit completely from the digital process from start to finish. This recording does and the sound is top quality as a result. Ivan Fischer also deserves mention in choosing material for this disc that shows the absolute tuneful scope of Dvorak's writing.
This album is a worthwhile step forward for anyone wanting to explore Dvorak's work further. The pieces included here might not be as recognized as the Slavonic Dances or others in the Dvorak canon, but you will find they are among his most satisfying."
Rich emotions, perfect delivery
fotografus | Budapest, Hungary | 05/24/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This recording reaches exceptional heights. Emotions grasp you without control and fly you over the borders of passion. Then you find yourself floating on pure music in an incomparable feeling of cleanness. This is a perfect musical match to our young and innocent but already complex selves we all used to be. A hopeful gaze on life."
Little Known Dvorak Played Well By Fischer and BFO
John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 07/16/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a magnificient little CD of Dvorak's lesser known small works for orchestra. Ivan Fischer leads the Budapest Festival Orchestra in amply warm, lyrical performances of these works. The highlight may be the Nocturno, but my own personal favorites are the waltzes at the end of the CD. The sound recording is absolutely first rate, rich in sonority. Fans of Dvorak and Ivan Fischer will not be disappointed in this recording, which deserves its superb accolade in the most recent edition of the Penguin Guide to Classical Music."
'ONE CANNOT BUT ENVY THE MAN'
DAVID BRYSON | Glossop Derbyshire England | 05/28/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"That is Brahms talking, asking his publisher Simrock to pass on his compliments to Dvorak over the latter's `Legends' for orchestra. This is a gorgeous little disc. One item, the Notturno in which the liner-note writer hears influence from Wagner, strikes a solemn tone and takes some listening to before one can recognise the composer, but the rest of it is a box of musical chocolates. What the Legends are legends of the composer never said, but Brahms does not even seem to have bothered to enquire, so I am not asking either. They are melodious and charming orchestral miniatures lasting between two and a half minutes and five and a half minutes each. They show Dvorak at his most agreeable and his least pretentious, with the Czech elements free from self-consciousness and the orchestration as colourful as he could always make it without any of the messiness he was prone to at times.
The `Miniatures' are an inauthentic but perfectly appropriate 20th century styling for a set of four pieces that Dvorak turned out in a hurry for two violinists and a viola player who had not been able to cope with the Terzetto that he originally wrote with them in mind. He had also arranged the pieces, still in a rush, as violin/piano duos and methodical research disproves his own confused recollection that that had been their original format. The instrumental combination restricts the bass to C in the bass clef, and while I thoroughly enjoy the Terzetto played by soloists in my fine performance from the Lindsays, I think I am probably glad of several players to each of the three parts as I am offered the works here. To round matters off there are some fine hearty Prague Waltzes using a larger orchestra than in the Legends. However nothing on this disc is amazingly loud, and to get the greatest enjoyment I suggest a high volume-setting.
I'm not sure that either the performances or the recorded quality (DDD) really call for the hyperbolical superlatives lavished on them by The Penguin Guide, but both are excellent and both easily satisfy my own moderate demands. The liner note with the British edition, from Patrick Lambert, is an absolute model of its kind, and I hope it is available internationally. The information conveyed is relevant and clear and exactly what I am looking for. The signs of better times in the liner-note industry generally are getting stronger and more persistent, so here's hoping. The main thing is of course the music, and I don't think we need Brahms to tell us how enjoyable it is."
For all music lovers
A. Chapman | 12/16/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Fantastic record decently played. For once the reviews are correct Legends are first class lyrical,moving, pieces. All should hear this disc which is a joy from first to last. Dvorak was a great composer though no Beethoven of course. Forget his Slavonic Dances which are merely tedious after the first couple of times this stuff is much better. Try it!"
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1