Search - Antonin Dvorak, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra :: Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 / The Water Goblin

One of the great recordings of the "New World"

Stephan Fay | Panamá City | 12/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Harnoncourt offers bright colors, sprung rhythms and an orchestra that plays with total commitment.

One can hear gorgeous woodwind and brass with Harnoncourt's care for detail that uncovers fresh sounds everywhere probably never heard before.



The performance of the "Water Goblin" is even more gripping: listen to the percussion parts, relishing the narrative aspects.



This is a must buy !!!"

Probably the top choice for a digital 'New World'

Alexander Leach | Shipley, West Yorkshire United Kingdom | 04/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I gave a warm review to Abbado's recentish DG Berlin Philharmonic CD of this symphony, and it is still a great disc, but Harnoncourt surpasses him, I think. The superb sound on this CD brings out Harnoncourt's wonderful balancing of the orchestra, with brass and strings ideally placed, especially in the first movement. The Largo is beautifully played and all in all this is a fresh and imaginative performance.In sheer bravura Abbado's Finale is perhaps the more exciting, but overall Harnoncourt just pips him at the post.If you don't require DDD sound in the symphony then other recordings by Kubelik (DG), Davis (Philips) and Karajan (DG, 1964) might be worth checking out, as they are all cheaper and have excellent analogue (ADD) sound."

An overplayed `american` symphonie all new and fresh!

H. W. A. Leeuwen | Voorschoten, Netherlands | 06/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The concert during which this symphonie was recorded was one of the most impressive Harnoncourt concerts i have witnessed. From the first note played by the topform Concertgebouw orchestra the audience was completely captured by the magic of this music, by its confronting power to self, by the mirror that the artists so painfully held up to the audience. Some left weeping. Unfortunately, the disc can only capture a little bit of that atmosphere, but that which it has captured brings back the full works, and I am sure that the listener who has not attended the concert will be able to capture the very same thing.Harnoncourt proves again that he is not only a masterfull conductor, one of the great Maestro`s of this time, but even more so that he understands what people, what you and me, are all about, and that he is able to perform music in such a way that it is meaningfull to his audience, to you and me.The symphonie itsself ofcourse is performed so often that it has lost much of its original meaning. Mr. Harnoncourt gives us a rendition that sounds as though it has just left the composer`s pen. Thoughts and impressions from a new world.... Listening to it causes a caleidoscope of images, scenes, feelings and colours to play behind me eyes and when it is over I do not have the energy left to listen to Vodnik-the water goblin- which is just as powerfull."