Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 - The Golden Spinning Wheel - Scherzo Capriccioso

Album review

Antonín Dvorák's Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, with its peppy, very Czech finale theme with the blaring horns, is generally taken to be among his most genial works. But that's not how the composer himself saw it. He said his intention was "to write a work different from my other symphonies, with individual ideas worked out in a new manner." Critics at the time got this, positively or negatively, and it's the work's formal variety that comes under the scrutiny of conductor Claus Peter Flor in this BIS release. BIS has had good luck recording out-of-the-Western-mainstream Southeast Asian orchestras, and they continue the streak here with Flor's Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, a group that was founded in 1997 and provides hope for the future of the core classical repertory to anyone who is looking for it. There is nothing in the playing to indicate that you are not listening to an orchestra from a major European city. But it's Flor's quick, astringent readings that are the real news. The fuzzy nationalist sentiment that has been attached to Dvorák's music ever since the beginnings of his popularity in England and America is generally weeded out. The result confirms the comparison of the work by annotator Jean-Pascal Vachon to Mahler's Symphony No. 1 ("Titan"): Dvorák's work comes across as a panorama of scenes slightly distantly observed. It's a fascinating take on the work. You may miss the warmth, and when you listen to the more explicitly programmatic tone poem Zlaty Kolovrat (The Golden Spinning Wheel), Op. 109, you may miss some evocativeness. But there's no shortage of recordings of this work, and a really fresh one certainly deserves a hearing. Another bonus is the comparatively rare Scherzo capriccioso, Op. 66, which rings down the curtain. The music was well recorded at the orchestra's home, the Dewan Philharmonic PETRONAS hall in Kuala Lumpur (Muddy Confluence).

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