Better than nothing
I first encountered the Dvorak 8th. in 1962, with Istvan Kertesz and the LSO, and have heard many other versions since. None is finer than the Ivan Fischer/Budapest Phil of a few years back. It's bouncy, vibrant, dance-like and the third movement is a total revelation with all the glissandos and portamento used to accentuate the thrust.
However, this is all about dvd, not cd, so choices are very slim - this one and one on a Dvorak set from the early 90's.My friend "GPK" tells me the latter 8th. is nothing special.
Jansons is always a reliable conductor, but he has his work cut out here with the 2000 vintage BPO trying to make them sound Slavic. This is after all Dvorak's most "Czech" symphony. The BPO try mightily, and they sound like a good German orchestra attempting to penetrae music that's not in their blood. It's not half bad, but it's smoother rather than idiomatic. Very pleasant listening, but it won't knock your socks off as the Fischer cd will...
Sheer beauty
Other reviewers have focused on the 9th Symphony. My reason for buying this was the violin concerto from Shostakovich which has some symphonic characteristics. It is a piece that requires insight and patience to appreciate. The Berliner's under Mariss Jansons' capable baton provide a rock solid musical foundation for Miss Hahn to do her magic with the violin. And magic she does! A brilliant performance, flawlessly played, that brings out both the beauty and emotion (maybe more subtle than other violin players would) of the music. Oh, and Hilary, just one more thing: love your dress!
An enjoyable concert offering some very good performances in a good recording
This well recorded concert originates from the Suntory Hall, Tokyo in 2000. The concert has clearly been designed to satisfy the musical tastes of a wide range of concert goers with a program that centres around the well-known works of Weber and Dvorak plus an excursion into the less well-known territory of a Shostakovich concerto of significance.
The quality of the actual recording is particularly good for its period and is reminiscent of the advanced recording quality of Abbado's earlier concert from the same venue which included one of the best Tchaikovsky 5's available and in widescreen plus DTS 5.1 genuine surround sound. In this case the imaging is crisp and of good colour rendition. The superiority of the imaging is quite obvious on long shots from the rear of the hall where the image does not break up as it so often does on other recordings of that vintage. The camera work offers instrumental detail without straying into the invasive. The sound is good, presented in...
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