MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet AmazonUK AmazonUS


Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841–1904)
Symphony No.9 in E minor, “From the New World”, Op.95 (1893) [42:23]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra, Op. 86 (1849) [17:59]
David Guerrier; Antoine Dreyfuss; Emmanuel Padieu; Bernard Schirrer (horns)
La Chambre Philharmonique/Emmanuel Krivine
rec. Grenoble, France, January 2008
NAĎVE V5132 [60:00]
Experience Classicsonline

La Chamber Philharmonique is a period instrument band of the highest excellence. Emmanuel Krivine shows himself to be an equally fine musician here, although my previous live experience of him did not indicate that this would be the case. He accompanied Argerich in Prokofiev at the Festival Hall back in March 2004, and whilst Argerich delivered the goods, the remainder of the concert left much to be desired.
 
The Dvořák begins with a rhythmic distortion that one would presume to be based on research – the string neighbour-note figure seems over-long; the wind answer returns to the “standard” version. This quirk aside, the movement is given an authentically-informed performance, with transparency being the order of the day. The Allegro molto is nicely sprung and, in keeping with the spring-cleaning of text, the lead-in to the flute second subject is minimal; this is as opposed to the all-out ritard. that seems to be the norm. Portamento occasionally surfaces on the strings, an aspect of informed practice that is as refreshing as it is ear-opening. The exposition repeat is observed.
 
The tempo for the Largo is expertly chosen – slow enough to retain the solemnity of the opening chorale, flowing enough to sustain the famous melody. A special mention is due for the oboe at 7:35 – oboist Christian Moreaux enters haltingly, and most effectively. The Scherzo blazes towards its close; the finale is noteworthy for its expert horn playing, especially the “hunting” quartet of horns at around 8:30. The finale begins with an unstoppable momentum. This is refreshing playing with some wonderful solo moments. Luca Luccetta’s silken clarinet provides one of them.
 
Comparison with Marin Alsop’s recent, excellent Naxos version with the Baltimore Symphony reveals complementary approaches that deserve to share shelf-space. Alsop is perhaps more traditional but still gives a tremendous account – and her filler, the Symphonic Variations, receives an even finer performance.
 
The horns used for the Dvořák were a mix of Raoux (Paris, early nineteenth century) and Viennese (made by Anton Franz Cizk in 1905). For the solo piece, only Viennese valved horns are used. Schumann deliberately wrote it for valved instruments. I like Alain Chotil-Fani’s use of understatement in the booklet. The piece is still little known, he says, despite the composer’s own comment about it as “one of the best things I’ve done”. He goes on to say, “The difficulty of assembling a quartet of top-quality soloists may explain its relative rarity in the concert hall”. May? The writing is terrifically difficult - for the top two players especially - and the mere mention of “Konzertstück” instils fear into any self-respecting player’s heart.
 
The horns here make a relatively self-effacing entrance, surely contrary to Schumann’s intent. At the other extreme, a performance I owned on LP in the early 1980s, now seemingly out of print, was an account by a quartet headed by the great Hermann Baumann, whose opening could only be described as raucous. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the four players here, who work not only as a unit but also with unfailing musicality. The virtuosity of the finale, not only in terms of negotiating extremes of range but also in terms of nimbleness, is a joy here. The high (sounding) ‘A’ here, performed at considerable speed, actually made me laugh out loud it was so unreasonably well-placed and sounded. Bravo to all concerned – Krivine ensures that the orchestral contribution is never routine.
 
Barenboim’s Chicago recording of this piece shows off what is one of the world’s great horn sections; Thielemann’s with the Philharmonia is another fine version. But my preferred version is now this Naďve one. A tremendous disc.
 
Colin Clarke
 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.