Search - Dvorak, Istvan Kertesz, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Dvorak: "New World" Symphony No. 9 / Smetana: Ma Vlast

Worth chasing down for Kertesz fans

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 05/19/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a side bar to Kertesz's famous Dvorak symphonies with the London Sym., which are also more readily available. His "New World" with the Vienna Phil. is superior in orchestral playing and also in sonics to the London version, which wasn't one of the high points in Kertesz's cycle. Here he is rougher, tending toward sudden contrasts, and moodier. The music emerges as less genial than usual, an approach that Kertesz can't quite make convincing. Dvorak's specialty was joyous music that any listener can assimilate on first hearing, and I don't find unexplored depths in it. If you do, Kertesz's sterner reading may appeal to you. The Moldau provided as a filler is unexpectedly fiery--a maverick apaproach that works--and the playing of the Israel Phil. follows Kertesz's impassioned lead."