Search - Antonin Dvorak, Václav Neumann, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra :: Dvorák: Symphonies Nos. 4-6

I want to give this set 5 stars, but I can't

Charles Emmett | Oroville, California (the boonies) | 03/30/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I was fortunate to own Vaclav Neumann's early recordings on vynil recorded in the early seventies, I think. The Bells of Zionice, no. 1, and the fourth have been my favorites ever since. So when I saw this set on ARKIV I bought the complete nine symphonies.The reason I want to give this 3 stars is bacause of the micing of the orchestra. The Chech Philharmonic has one of the most beautiful and powereful string sections in the world and it is almost drowned out by the placing of the mics for these recordings. I know that Dvorak loved powerful brass, but the other recordings of this composers works with this orchestra the whole orchestra shines and the string section shines. It does here when you can strain your ears to hear it. There is wonderful nuance and power from the whole orchestraI did notice that in the first box, the first three sympnonies were recorded later than the second box, this one. The later recordings have the most imbalance so you lose the wonderful nuance of the magnificent playing. I do not think that it is Maestro Neumann, because his other recordings of these early symphonies are just as exciting but the total orchestral timbre shines.I must say that purchase of this box to listen to the slow movement of the fourth symphony alone is worth it. It is the most beautiful movement of any of his symphonies.The fifth and the six are so marvelously played yet, again that bugaboo of too spacious of a sound. It is great sound yet I feel as if the microphones are in another building and are recording reflected sound.I am only revuing this box because the other two are the same and that Maestro Neumann doesn't do that well with the symphonies that are not imbued with the Czheck character as in the first seven. George Szell and the CLO set the standard for the late symphoniesWhat ever happened to Zdenek Chalabala and his wonderful recordings of the tone poems and overtures with this orchestra?This truly is a monument to Neumann and the Chech Philharmonic sounds and plays wonderfully, but you have to grit your teeth and strain your ears to hear it.I still love the early symphonies. They are my favorite"

No revelations, but this is old-style Czech playing with all

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/25/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Supraphon is reissuing Vaclav Neumann's Dovrak cycle from the Sixties and Seventies in good sound at a bargain price, and you get to hear the distinctive sound of the Czech Phil., with its bubbling, rustic woodwinds, before the orchestra's timbre becmae more international. As for the interpretations, I find them reliable but not much beyond that. Neumann is capabel of generating excitement and brio -- as in the finale of Sym. #5 -- but he can also lapse into fairly routine time-beating. Sym. #6 is too tame and casual to make much impact. I was attracted to this two-fer (Supraophon has divided the cycle into three of them) because these three symphonies contain elements of Dvorak's greatness to come. They were ignored until Istvan Kertesz's Decca cycle with the London Sym. brought them to wider notice.



I think Kertesz still has the most to say about them, but Neumann is skilled and the orchestra totally idiomatic, so I am pushing the bar and sliding three stars over to four."