CD reviews 3.9.24

 Norman Stinchcombe reviews the latest classical CD releases

The great symphonies are amenable to different interpretations, surely one of the necessary conditions of being a great piece of music. Dvorak’s late symphonies are in that category and there are plentiful rewards to be had from recordings by conductors and orchestras with different approaches as two newly released sets show. Dvorak: Czech Philharmonic / Semyon Bychkov (Pentatone 2CDs) ★★★★ was taken from performances of the Symphonies 7-9 in the Dvorak Hall at the Rudolfinum in Prague last year. As the orchestra’s chief conductor and music director Bychkov has formed an acclaimed partnership with his Czech players at home and on tour. The LSO Live label is 25 years-old and is celebrating with a remastered set from of Dvorak’s Symphonies 6-9 conducted by Sir Colin Davis, Dvorak, Janacek, Smetana: London Symphony Orchestra / Davis / Rattle (LSO Live 4 CDs & SACDs) ★★★★ Both sets are great value for money and come with substantial bonuses. Bychkov’s second disc has Dvorak’s three tone poems, usually played singly in the concert hall, but here as the musical triptych ‘Nature, Life and Love’ as Dvorak intended. The pastoral ‘In Nature’s Realm’ features characterful Czech wind playing, ‘Carnival’ is zestful and uproarious while ‘Othello’ is suitably louring. The Davis set has Smetana’s musical history of his Bohemian homeland Smetana's ‘ Má vlast’, an aptly epic traversal by Davis, plus an excellent performance of Janáček’s ‘Sinfonietta’ under Simon Rattle showcasing the LSO’s splendid brass section. What about the two conductors’ view of the symphonies? Bychkov and his Czechs are fleeter, lighter in tone and less inclined to linger in the slow movements. In Symphony No. 7’s slow movement Bychkov acknowledges the ‘Poco’ qualification of ‘Adagio’ (9.30) while Davis doesn’t (11.18) and No.9’s famous Largo is similar – Bychkov (11.12), Davis (12.50). On recording quality, Dvorak Hall is airier and has more bloom than the Barbican but the LSO remastering team from Classic Sound have made vast improvements on the boxy sound of Davis’s recordings – No.9 dating back to 1999 – with the SACD layers adding extra clarity. Both sets are very rewarding.

With Bruckner, of course, not only do we have different interpretations of his symphonies but also a (for the non-specialist) bewildering variety of editions. Here we have two radically opposed readings of the popular Symphony no.4. The one from Anima Eterna Brugge / Pablo Heras-Casado (Harmonia Mundi CD) ★★★★ is performed on original instruments while that on ‘From the Archives’ Volume 3: (Somm Recordings 2CDs) ★★★ features a 1958 live recording by the Munich Philharmonic at Herkulessaal, Munich, taken from a Bavarian Radio broadcast, conducted by the Swiss conductor, and respected Bruckner conductor, Volkmar Andreae, when he was 79-years-old. They use different editions: Heras-Casado conducts the Nowak edition while Andreae prefers the Haas edition. Both sets of booklet notes guide the listener through the musicological labyrinth. In Anima Eterna’s performance the lighter strings, with reduce vibrato, change the orchestral balance giving wind and brass more prominence. Heras-Casado’s tempi are flowing but never rushed, the brighter textures give the symphony a spruced-up nimbler sound – Bruckner through the prism of Schumann. Andreae’s is the more “traditional” reading, heavyweight but never sluggish with Finale feeling like a hard-won apotheosis. Restoration by Lani Spahr makes the sound acceptable from a limited source but don’t expect hi-fi. On disc one there’s a fine performance of Symphony No.3 (Oeser Edition) by the NDR Symphony Orchestra under Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, a live 1966 radio broadcast from Hamburg. It includes a fine surging third movement, the first of Bruckner’s great scherzos.

Between 1988 and 2001 the Austrian conductor Adam Fischer recorded the complete Haydn symphonies in eight box sets for the Nimbus label. He conducted the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, an ad-hoc band made up of the leaders and star soloists of the Vienna Philharmonic and several Hungarian orchestras, who met up every summer. It’s easily my favourite complete set of Haydn, full of joy, passion and wit all superlatively played. Now Fischer has completed the first three discs in a new Haydn series, Haydn ‘Late Symphonies’: Danish Chamber Orchestra / Adam Fischer (Naxos 3 CDs available separately. Volume 1 (93, 94, 95), Volume 2 (96, 97, 98), Volume 3 (99, 100, 101) ★★★ They employ, “varied bowing and playing styles in the strings and innovative dynamic techniques in the wind”. In other words this is a small modern band using historic performing practice techniques. There is minimal string vibrato and the balance favours wind, brass and timpani. Everything moves along at a real clip and the timings for each volume compared to Fischer’s earlier set tell the story. In Volume 3, for example, Naxos (69.11) Nimbus (79.14). The Danish versions can sound exhilarating but occasionally simply rushed. Wind playing is bright and perky but I miss the range of tone colour and rubato the premier-league Austro-Hungarian players bring. The Nimbus set was recorded in the Esterhazy Palace where the composer himself conducted many of these works. That’s authenticity for you.