Search - Josef [Composer] Suk, Antonin Dvorak, Volker Hartung :: Serenades

Avoid This One

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 09/02/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I was excited when Günther Hänssler (of the eponymous Hänssler label) started a new recording company called Profil. And there have been some good things on the label -- most notably a sterling performance of two Mozart's Haydn Quartets by a group I'd never heard of (but of which I hope to hear more), the Klenke Quartet.



But this issue is pretty lame. An orchestra calling itself the 'European New Philharmonic' (of which there seems to be little information available) conducted by a certain Volker Hartung (likewise) plays flabby, out-of-tune versions of two of the loveliest string orchestra works by Czech composers, Dvorák and Suk. The String Serenade by Suk (Dvorák's son-in-law) could almost be considered an homage to the better-known composer's own serenade, and indeed the main theme of Suk's Adagio movement is a quotation of the theme of Dvorák's Larghetto movement. But, nice as it is to have these two serenades on the same CD, these performances are not the ones the have.



As for the fillers, two Slavonic Dances by Dvorák (Allegretto grazioso, Op. 72, No. 2 and Presto, Op. 46, No. 1) for full orchestra, are just as bad with terrible balances, poor intonation, rhythmic uncertainty.



It's a mystery to me how Hänssler -- who gave us those wonderful Rilling Bach recordings, for instance -- could have let this one be published. Avoid it.



Scott Morrison

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