# Best Recording of Dvorak's 7th



## Kogami (Jun 12, 2012)

Hi,
I am looking for the absolute best recording of Dv's 7th. I have heard the Dohnanyi/Clevealand one, which people seem to like quite a bit. I only really like the last movement of it, and am looking for a different perspective. 
Thanks,
Kogami


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Best-schmest. Anyway, see if you can listen to the Kubelik/DG. Don't remember the orchestra (maybe the BRSO).


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Istvan Kertesz with London Symphony on Decca! Only Dvorak one needs really! 

/ptr


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Best is subjective, however my favorite by far is he Levine/Chicago recording:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...enre=66&bcorder=195&name_id=17382&name_role=3


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Kogami said:


> Hi,
> I am looking for the absolute best recording of Dv's 7th. I have heard the Dohnanyi/Clevealand one, which people seem to like quite a bit. I only really like the last movement of it, and am looking for a different perspective.
> Thanks,
> Kogami


The fact that your opinion on the Dohnanyi recording appears to differ from other people's should serve as a pointer to the fact that there _is_ no absolute best. So now all you need to do is sit back and wait for a huge range of suggestions, some of them clearly contradictory. Then you make a list of all of them, shut your eyes, stick a pin in it, and hope for success.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Talich, Kertesz, Kubelik, and Neumann in that order. The Czech Philharmonic is the best band for this.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

This one may attract your attention:

http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=1889


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

As there almost seems to be no general consensus among which recording is best i guess I will go to favourite conductor Szell. General consensus on #8 seems to be Kertesz and for #9 Kubelik but correct me if I’m wrong. I’m going to listen to this symphony for the first time tonight so I’m excited


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

no.7 is difficult --there are no ideal recordings I've come across. Talich is probably the greatest, as Bigshot said, but then the sound is 1937! The problem is balancing the introspective and intense emotions of the first two movements (esp. the second) with the more extrovert and rustic final two. Kertesz, an outstanding conductor in the earlier symphonies, is too matter of fact in the slow movement, for instance, and most conductors rush this.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Maazel/VPO always served me well for symphonies 7 and 8.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

A "serious" non-bohemian recording of the 7th is by Giulini (mid-1970s, usually on a EMI twofer with early 60s recordings of 8+9). If findable at twofer price, that's great bargain. Giulini re-recorded 8+9 for DG in Chicago but I find them too slow and "massive", he again recorded some Dvorak later and still slower (Sony) but I haven't heard them.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Give a spin to any of the recordings by Kertesz, Rowicki, Pesek, Neumann, Suitner, Anguelov or Ivan Fischer. I suspec one of them will click with you.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Kubelik / BPO


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

A work I love. It is the most Brahmsian of Dvorak's symphonies but needs to sound Slavonic as well. Given this there are a number of very enjoyable recordings that are not quite right. Kertesz is excellent. Harnoncourt is magical and Belohlavek is also very good.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

marlow said:


> Kubelik / BPO


just relistened to the problematic slow movement of this as in in general, I do admire Kubelik (esp. in Mahler) and there are some very nice things in his 8th. However here, despite the passion and some wonderful moments, it's in places mannered and erratic and the Berlin sounds simply the wrong orchestra for Dvorak. Neither Pesek nor Neumann are ideal and Belohlavek is simply an over-rated conductor, especially in Dvorak. My first recording of this was actually Monteux and I still think he gets closer to the elusive slow movement atmosphere than most others. Rowicki is worth mentioning -- he does nothing horrendously stupid here and is generally a fine and underrated Dvorak conductor.

It's back to Talich....


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

This is an oldie! 


Of non-Czech conductors, the Colin Davis/Concertgebouw recording is part of a set of the late symphonies and is wonderful.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

If you have a favorite Brahms conductor the Symphony 7 is the closest thing Dvorak wrote like Brahms. I too enjoyed Colin Davis with Concertgebouw


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## Algreco316 (9 mo ago)

haziz said:


> Give a spin to any of the recordings by Kertesz, Rowicki, Pesek, Neumann, Suitner, Anguelov or Ivan Fischer. I suspec one of them will click with you.


Don't forget Monteux!!


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Thanks for all the recommendations, I hoped it would gain some traction after reviving a thread from 2013. 1937 is too old for me sound quality wise so I think I will actually go with Davis/Concertgebouw for this particular symphony.


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

I think the Czech conductors are popular in this music - for good reason - but Davis/Concertgebouw is maybe my favorite 7/8/9 set (and there are a ton of those).

Fricsay is my favorite standalone 9. I don't think I've heard a better slow movement than that record.


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Hurwitz’s top 3 is:
1. Dohnanyi/Cleveland
2. Davis/Concertgebouw
3. Neumann (digital one)
I know not everyone here on this forum likes Hurwitz, but that doesn’t matter right now. Personal opinions aside, what do you think about this list and the order?


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

EvaBaron said:


> Hurwitz’s top 3 is:
> 1. Dohnanyi/Cleveland
> 2. Davis/Concertgebouw
> 3. Neumann (digital one)
> I know not everyone here on this forum likes Hurwitz, but that doesn’t matter right now. Personal opinions aside, what do you think about this list and the order?


Not for me...
Monteux, Kertesz, both with LSO.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

EvaBaron said:


> Hurwitz’s top 3 is:
> 1. Dohnanyi/Cleveland
> 2. Davis/Concertgebouw
> 3. Neumann (digital one)
> I know not everyone here on this forum likes Hurwitz, but that doesn’t matter right now. Personal opinions aside, what do you think about this list and the order?



I am not familiar with Davis/Concertgebouw, but the other two are fine recordings. Neumann's analog cycle is also superb. So is Rowicki, Kertesz, Anguelov, Suitner and Pesek. Ivan Fischer with the Budapest Festival Orchestra have also recorded Symphonies Nos. 7 - 9 superbly.

While he does receive regular bashing on this forum, I think Hurwitz's choices are usually fine. The fact that we agree about 80% of the time of course helps!


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## brahms4 (May 8, 2017)

Another excellent one,imho,would be Antal Dorati with the LSO.Sure are a lot of LSO Dvorak!Decca owns the Rowicki,Davis,Monteux,Dohnanyi,Kertesz,and Dorati Dvorak 7ths.Maybe they could have a box set of the 7th like Universal did with The Rite of Spring.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)




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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

I'd just like to give my backing to the "there's no out-and-out best recording" argument....!

Most of my favourites have bene mentioned, and those are: Davis, Kertesz, Kubelik, Neumann (earlier cycle).

I have trouble with the Vaclav Talich recording, it's from the late 1930s, and the sound is unsurprisingly poor, so that one is just of historical interest, and likewise a debatable even more dramatic performance, from Karel Sejna (1951). There have been excellent performances of this pieces in the post-shellac era...!

I'd also add that I really do like the more recent Belohlavek recording, as it shows up some interesting details I have never really heard before. Pretty disappointing that someone here can merely dismiss him as an over-rated conductor..... I would echo the praise above for the earlier Giulini recording on EMI too; Oh, and it might be cheap and cheerful, but the Gunzenhauser recording on Naxos is one of the best ones in that set.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

dko22 said:


> just relistened to the problematic slow movement of this as in in general, I do admire Kubelik (esp. in Mahler) and there are some very nice things in his 8th. However here, despite the passion and some wonderful moments, it's in places mannered and erratic and the Berlin sounds simply the wrong orchestra for Dvorak. Neither Pesek nor Neumann are ideal and Belohlavek is simply an over-rated conductor, especially in Dvorak. My first recording of this was actually Monteux and I still think he gets closer to the elusive slow movement atmosphere than most others. Rowicki is worth mentioning -- he does nothing horrendously stupid here and is generally a fine and underrated Dvorak conductor.
> 
> It's back to Talich....


I do agree about Kubelik's 7 (but think his 8 is wonderful). But I don't agree about Belohlavek. Monteux? You got that right!


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Enthusiast said:


> I do agree about Kubelik's 7 (but think his 8 is wonderful). But I don't agree about Belohlavek. Monteux? You got that right!


I'm afraid I've never understood what people see in Belohlavek. Even in Martinu which is something of a speciality, I find him less idiomatic than Neumann for instance.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

OK. But isn't the opposite of idiomatic something like mainstream? Was Monteux recording of the 7th idiomatic or was it just a fine recording?


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Enthusiast said:


> OK. But isn't the opposite of idiomatic something like mainstream? Was Monteux recording of the 7th idiomatic or was it just a fine recording?


in this case, I think it's just a fine recording. It doesn't sound at all Czech.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

What would have made it sound "more" Czech?


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I am hardly an expert but there are some specific things about the "Czech" sound, e.g. woodwind playing traditions and probably also some rhythmic articulations. However, to me, Dvorak's 7th seems to me one of his least "Czech" pieces, compared e.g. to 8 or 9, not to begin with slavonic dances or rhapsodies.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

I keep returning to the superb Szell/Cleveland Orchestra interpretation....Another very fine performance is Monteux's with the London Symphony.


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Brahmsian Colors said:


> I keep returning to the superb Szell/Cleveland Orchestra interpretation....Another very fine performance is Monteux's with the London Symphony.


Szell is in my top 2 favourite conductors so maybe i should give him a try


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

haziz said:


> I am not familiar with Davis/Concertgebouw, but the other two are fine recordings. Neumann's analog cycle is also superb. So is Rowicki, Kertesz, Anguelov, Suitner and Pesek. Ivan Fischer with the Budapest Festival Orchestra have also recorded Symphonies Nos. 7 - 9 superbly.
> 
> While he does receive regular bashing on this forum, I think Hurwitz's choices are usually fine. The fact that we agree about 80% of the time of course helps!



I have since listened to Symphony No. 7 by Davis/Concertgebouw (as well as Nos. 8 & 9). A fine recording. I can understand why it is highly recommended.


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