Antonín Dvořák - Symphonies Nos. 7-9 (George Szell)

Information

Composer: Antonín Dvořák; Bedřich Smetana

• Dvořák - Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70
• Dvořák - Carnival Overture, Op. 92
• Smetana - The Bartered Bride, opera: Overture
• Smetana - String Quartet No. 1 in E minor "From My Life" (orch. Szell)
• Dvořák - Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88
• Dvořák - Symphony No. 9 in E minor "From the New World", Op. 95

Cleveland Orchestra

George Szell, conductor

Date: 1949–1963

Label: Sony Classical

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Review

With Masterworks Heritage titles going out of print rapidly, it’s good to know that Sony has elected to repackage this landmark set in regular jewel-box format. George Szell’s Dvorák performances feature his customary blend of razor sharp orchestral discipline allied to a wholly idiomatic, singing line. Even more interesting, he takes numerous liberties with Dvorák’s orchestration in the Seventh Symphony, reinforcing the violins and woodwinds with horns at several points in the outer movements. Some of his interpretive touches, such as the pianissimo reprise in the Eighth’s third movement, have even become performance “traditions”, reappearing in many subsequent readings by other artists. In short, you won’t find a more authoritative, urgently exciting, well-played collection of Dvorák’s last three symphonies at any price. The remastering has been managed with great care and is wholly successful. This is particularly gratifying with respect to the mono items, which include the Bartered Bride Overture and Szell’s own surprisingly colorful and uninhibited orchestration of Smetana’s First Quartet. Indispensable!

— David Hurwitz

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Antonín Dvořák (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. He was the second Czech composer to achieve worldwide recognition, after Bedřich Smetana. Following Smetana's nationalist example, many of Dvořák's works show the influence of Czech folk music, such as his  two sets of Slavonic Dances, the Symphonic Variations, and the overwhelming majority of his songs. Dvořák wrote in a variety of forms: nine symphonies, ten operas, three concertos, several symphonic poems, serenades for string orchestra and wind ensemble, more than 40 works of chamber music, and piano music.

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George Szell (June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970) was a Hungarian-born American conductor who transformed the Cleveland Orchestra into one of America's leading ensembles during his tenure as musical director (1946–1970). A piano prodigy educated in Vienna, Szell debuted as a conductor at 16 and held key posts in major European opera houses. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1939, he conducted at the Metropolitan Opera and became a U.S. citizen in 1946. Szell gained international acclaim for for his precise, balanced and intense interpretations of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Mahler.

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