Anton Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 is one of classical music's all-time greatest hits. It was composed and premiered in New Yok in 1893, which is why - but not only why - it is known as the ''New World Symphony.'' On this recording, which also includes the first cycle on the equally popular Slavonic Dances, the Piano Duo Trenkner / Speidel once again demonstrates the great advantages and fascinating rhythmic verve offered by reductions for piano four hands. Trimmed of the comfortable and sumptuous sound of the large orchestra, Dvorak's genial treatment of motives of Bohemian folk character shines in even greater glory. However, not a single one of these motives is genuine folk music. Both in the United States and in his native Bohemia, Dvorak occupied himself very thoroughly with traditional music, including African American spirituals and Native American songs. He then invented his own melodies of the same character and was very successful - as the famous main theme of the second movement demonstrates; its melancholy feeling goes straight to the heart! Dvorak also thought out the Slavonic Dances completely on his own and so very precisely hit just the right tone that research has repeatedly been conducted to determine the precise origins of this music. The constant shifts of tempo and rhythmic modifications represent a genuine challenge for a pian oduo but are no problem at all for Evelinde trenkner and Sontraud Speidel, who draw on many years of joint performance experience. While Dvorak only later prepared the version of the Slavonic Dances for piano four hands, he produced the keyboard version of his ninth symphony at about the same time as its premiere. Since he repeatedly ranges quite far from the orchestral version, it does not involve a piano reduction in the usual sense. The result, a genuine piece of music for piano duo.

Caroline Goulding presents her debut CD along with pianist Danae Dörken. Caroline Goulding, a Boston, MA native has received the Kempinsky Young Artists Fellowship, the Avery Fisher Career grant and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. She appears throughout the world, performing solo repertoire. German newspaper Die Welt describes Dörken as "a poet on the piano". Dörken is one of the most sought-after soloists of her generation, playing regularly at festivals and concert halls around the world.

Zara Nelsova's technical facility along with a strong stage presence commanded attention and with the younger Jacqueline du Pre, together they formed a vanguard that forever breached gender stereotypes. Made in the period between 1956 and 1965, these recordings from the archives of RIAS Berlin range far and wide, including the Cello Concertos by Darius Milhaud and Dmitri Kabalevsky, works previously unreleased and Nelsova's first commercial recordings of this repertoire. This 4 CD boxed set spotlights the importance of her pivotal legacy. With Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and conductors Georg Ludwig Jochum and Gerd Albrecht.

The Staatsphilharmonie Nurnberg under the direction of Marcus Bosch present their latest recording: The Symphony No. 5 by Antonin Dvorak. The fifth symphony was composed in the year 1875 and was first performed 4 years after it was written. The symphony is complemented on this album by Holoubek's piece The wild Dove.

Founded 1998, the Bennewitz Quartet, from the Czech Republic, have become one of the classical music world's top international chamber ensembles, a status confirmed not only by prestigious competition victories but also by the acclaim of the critics. Having recently recorded an all-Dvorák program on two CDs (Cypresses) for hanssler in 2012, the ensemble returns to the music of this Bohemian/American master with two quartets for strings, both of which are important milestones in the composer's œuvre: No. 10 in E-flat Major, op. 51, and No. 13 in G Major, op. 106.

Faith in God was for Dvorák the cornerstone on which he built his own life and work, hence it comes as no surprise that a number of his seminal pieces are within the domain of sacred music, and frequently linked with a strong personal story.

The first version of the oratorio Stabat Mater came into being after the death of his first-born daughter. In the wake of the triumph of its London premiere, Dvorák received more commissions from the UK, which gave rise to other paramount compositions: The Spectre's Bride, Requiem and Saint Ludmila.

The instigation for Te Deum came from New York, where following the premiere of the New World Symphony Dvorák wrote the Biblical Songs, the apex of his oeuvre of this genre. The set also contains pieces that have been seldom performed (the cantata The Heirs of the White Mountain, Psalm 149 in the previously unreleased recording made by the conductor Václav Neumann.).

At the same time, this 8-disc collection within the Dvorák series, featuring gems from the Supraphon archive, showcases superlative artists and performances in sensitively re-mastered sound.

"The unique item on the Starker disc is the first ever recording of the Bartok Viola Concerto in the cello version prepared by the man who originally completed Bartok's sketches of this work, Tibor Serly. I am surprised to find that—according to the notes accompanying the disc—it was published some 30 years ago, but never taken up until Starker started playing it. There is a strong case for preferring the cello version, when the lower register gives extra warmth to the melodic writing, notably in the Adagio religioso slow movement. If Starker shows a degree of emotional restraint in the Dvorak—almost as though he no longer finds the piece quite so fresh—his performance of the Bartok is stirringly expressive, very idiomatically Hungarian in the rhythmic pointing and linking of contrasted sections. He is brilliantly backed up by Slatkin and the St Louis orchestra who offer some alert playing. I hope now that cellists may take up this version more widely, both in concert and on disc, even though that would be hard luck on viola players, whose repertory is even sparser."

-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [3/1992]

These performances still sound as fresh and lively as any available. The first movement of the Eighth in particular has striking vitality, and Talich's characterful treatment of the finale, which waits until the coda before really taking off, continues to serve as a model of how the music can be played most effectively. The New World Symphony has similar passion and fire, and a Largo to die for, though in this work there's very strong competition from Ancerl on this same label, in very good stereo. Throughout both performances the playing of the Czech Philharmonic is, as expected, magnificently idiomatic, and the early 1950s mono recordings sound perfectly fine in these latest transfers, perhaps a bit brighter than in their previous incarnation. If for some reason you don't know these performances, then by all means get this latest release, and treasure it.

--David Hurwitz

This second release from young Czech conductor Jakub Hrusa is definitely better than his first one. The Prague Philharmonia is very much a chamber orchestra, and so you won't find the weight that, say, Dorati brings to the American Suite (Decca) or Belohlávek enjoys in the splendidly evocative Fantastic Scherzo (Chandos). But aside from the second movement of the Dvorák, which really needs a sharper attack, there's no lack of energy--and there's plenty of attractive detail (particularly in the wind parts) that often goes unnoticed in performances with larger ensembles. Still, I'm not giving up the power and luxurious color of my big-orchestra versions anytime soon.

Indeed, the Suk Serenade is extremely beautiful as well as unusually lively. Despite its appealing lyricism and melodic charm it's a tough piece to bring off. With its sequence of moderately paced inner movements, monotony is an ever-present threat, even in versions coming from Czech performers. Hrusa characterizes the work quite effectively, with the necessary lightness as well as rhythmic point. The program also has been very intelligently chosen: none of these pieces is that familiar, but all are very beautiful and worth hearing, so this disc may well fill a gap in many Czech music collections. Warm, well-balanced sound completes this recommendable package.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This is the Smetana Trio playing Dvorák, not to be confused with the Dvorák Trio playing Smetana. Such is life in the world of Czech chamber music. But seriously, Supraphon alone has an abundance of recordings of these works, and no wonder. The F minor and Dumky trios probably are the two finest works in the trio medium from the second half of the 19th century, and they make ideal disc-mates, one a sort of apotheosis of Dvorák's work in traditional forms, the other an innovative and path-breaking essay in his popular nationalist idiom. This stupendous new recording rivals the celebrated Suk Trio interpretations for the same label both in technical mastery and interpretive insight; in short, it is second to none.

The program opens with the Dumky Trio, and right from the start you can tell that this is going to be a great performance. Passion and spontaneity unite with rhythmic precision and a real feeling for the dance. Listen to the natural rubato in the fourth movement that prevents the recurring march rhythms from ever turning stiff or mechanical (and notice how much this music resembles the finale of Shostakovich's Second Trio). I loved the lightness of rhythm in the next piece: so often its skipping 6/8 rhythm becomes an excuse to create a chamber version of Wagner's descent into Nibelheim. Not here, where careful attention to dynamics and a flowing tempo create an effortless feeling of movement. There isn't a second in this performance where you feel the music should be played any other way, and no praise can be higher than that.

If anything, these qualities are even more evident in the great F minor trio. The players fling themselves into the first movement with almost dangerous abandon--but notice how perfectly in tune the opening octaves are, and how perfectly balances are maintained even in the most turbulent episodes in the development section. As in the previous work, the scherzo benefits from the ensemble's rhythmic acuity; but it's the slow movement that's really special here. It's not only beautifully paced and phrased, but the ensemble obviously took as much care with transitions as with the melodies, and the result has a seamless continuity that belies the impression in less-adept performances of a movement consisting of a disjointed stream of incredibly pretty tunes.

In the finale, happily taking Dvorák's "con brio" admonition literally, the ensemble sails into the coda with such enthusiasm that the music seems self-propelled. The final turn to the major in the coda is absolutely thrilling, and the closing bars offer the ultimate in musical satisfaction. I started listening to this disc with the slow movement, thinking to sample a bit here and there, but the playing was so gripping that I played the disc through to the end, then went back and listened again from the beginning. It's that good, and the sonics have a true-to-life immediacy that permits these spellbinding interpretations to register with maximum impact. Without question, this is a very great recording, an essential acquisition whether you already love this music or just want to get to know it better.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com