# Dvorak 9th



## EricIsAPolarBear

I was wondering if anybody has any recommendations on which version of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") for somebody who has never heard it before. THanks in advance!


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## Keemun

I just got Kubelik's 1973 recording with the Berlin Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon) and I like it so far.

Click HERE to see it on Amazon.com (USA).

EDIT: Click HERE for a free (and legal) version from Columbia University Orchestra.


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## david johnson

reiner or kubelik with chicago.

dj


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## EricIsAPolarBear

is the kubelik recording from the 50s? i can only find it as part of a set with Mozart, Mussorgsky, Smetana, among others


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## david johnson

yes...on mercury.

dj


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## Morigan

I absolutely love the Kubelik recording (the one for which an Amazon link was given). Some people will argue that Reiner is better... I don't know, it's a matter of personal preference.


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## tutto

find Prague orchestra


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## EricIsAPolarBear

I bought the Kubelik recording for which the Amazon link was given. Great purchase, on first listen i really enjoyed the IInd and IIIrd movements, the largo and scherzo.


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## david johnson

you have done well. the rca reiner recording is a little more mellow, but great.
i've always thought szell/cleveland was fine.

dj


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## mohawk1975

I have the Kondrashin version with VPO on decca - this is a great performance.


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## david johnson

mohawk1975 said:


> I have the Kondrashin version with VPO on decca - this is a great performance.


i've never heard that one.

dj


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## tahnak

*Dvorak's New World Symphony*

These are the versions that I rate in order of importance of Dvorak's New World symphony No. 9 in E Minor. Op.95 (1893):

1. Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic (First Movement Repeats taken)
2. Istvan Kertesz/London Symphony (First Movement Repeats taken)
3. Carlo Maria Giulini/Chicago Symphony (First movement repeats taken)
4. Rudolf Kempe/Royal Philharmonic
5. Rafael Kubelik/Berliner Philharmoniker
6. Zubin Mehta/Los Angeles Philharmonic
7. Vaclav Neumann/Czech Philharmonic
8. Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symphony
9. Herbert Von Karajan/Berliner Philharmoniker


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## Aramis

Bernstein, IMHO.


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## Mirror Image

Rafael Kubelik wins hands down with me everytime. Hard to beat his interpretation.


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## nickgray

My favorites are by Dorati, Kubelik and Fricsay. Probably no preference, since they're quite different from each other, but I guess I could say that Dorati's is my favorite.


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## Edmond-Dantes

Kubelik definitely. =D Leonard Bernstein is also very good.


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## David C Coleman

Just to add to the confusion, I've heard Wolfgang Sawallisch conduct the LPO on CFP label. It was very good. But I'm still looking for a supplier. It's probably a rare recording now...


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## EarlyCuyler

I would 2nd the Kondrashin/VPO. Really great performance. Also, Paavo Jarvi/Cincinnati, I listened to last night, great sound, and performance. Not one of my favorite pieces by any means though. WAAAAYYYYY overplayed. 

Tangent: Why, when American orchestra's go on tour do they play this piece? There are sooo many great works by American composers, why take this? Copland Symphony No.3? Roy Harris Symphony No.3? Walter Piston Symphony No.4? Why Dvorak? Its not even a great showcase for the orchestra. If you want that, play Bartok's Concerto. It was written for and American orchestra. SOrry for the tangent, rant over...


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## Rossini

Rob Cowan next Saturday - May 2 - at CD Review on BBC Radio 3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00k4g30 will analyze a few recordings of this widely appreciated work.


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## World Violist

EarlyCuyler said:


> Why, when American orchestra's go on tour do they play this piece? There are sooo many great works by American composers, why take this? Copland Symphony No.3? Roy Harris Symphony No.3? Walter Piston Symphony No.4? Why Dvorak? Its not even a great showcase for the orchestra. If you want that, play Bartok's Concerto. It was written for and American orchestra.


I agree completely. I don't particularly care for this symphony at all, except for the fact that I'm playing in it right now. It's got some very good moments. However, it seems to me more a bunch of tunes than a fully cohesive symphony. By saying that I don't mean that it's like Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italienne by any means, but it isn't Brahms by any means either. I desperately hope I'm making sense...

I only have two recordings, Bernstein/NYPO and Karajan/BPO (part of the "Panorama" that DG put out some years back). They're both good but flawed.


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## EarlyCuyler

World Violist said:


> I agree completely. I don't particularly care for this symphony at all, except for the fact that I'm playing in it right now. It's got some very good moments. However, it seems to me more a bunch of tunes than a fully cohesive symphony. By saying that I don't mean that it's like Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italienne by any means, but it isn't Brahms by any means either. I desperately hope I'm making sense...
> 
> I only have two recordings, Bernstein/NYPO and Karajan/BPO (part of the "Panorama" that DG put out some years back). They're both good but flawed.


Thats funny, so Am I. This coming Sunday as a matter of fact.. Which ensemble? You're near Cincinnati right?


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## World Violist

EarlyCuyler said:


> Thats funny, so Am I. This coming Sunday as a matter of fact.. Which ensemble? You're near Cincinnati right?


I actually live in Kentucky. I'm in the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra, and we're doing that the weekend after next, I believe. I'm really happy that I can play in the "chamber music" bit of the Lento--half of it, at any rate--as it's one of my favorite parts of the whole symphony.


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## Guest

The first symphony I ever heard, sometime between the ages of 5 and 7 (that would be 1964-66)

View attachment 84753


You can download an mp3 of this version from Amazon.


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## Pugg

I have the Kondrashin version with VPO which is my all time favourite , followed by Kubelik.


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## bigshot

Clouzot's filmed version with Karajan is fantastic.


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## perdido34

Harnoncourt
Szell


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## Animal the Drummer

Kertesz made two very fine recordings. I'm particularly fond of his earlier one with the LSO.


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## 13hm13

tahnak said:


> These are the versions that I rate in order of importance of Dvorak's New World symphony No. 9 in E Minor. Op.95 (1893):
> 6. Zubin Mehta/Los Angeles Philharmonic


Hard to find this one...
A rare Decca Australian CD release from 2000, with sy 8 , is avail. (check Amazon)

Meanwhile, a decent LP rip is on youtube:






Decca analog recordings could be very good in the late 1970s -- thx to Engineer [Recording Engineer] - James Lock and Kenneth Wilkinson -- and this 9th is a prime example. If you don't like spot miking, this record is not for you 

One more thing about the recording is the absence of midrange hardness. I've noted (in other posts) that digital -- especially early digital -- could sound hard and "shouty" in the mid frequencies. I find it especially irritating. But it's interesting to note that this LP was digitized, and then uploaded to YouTube (which compresses) ... and *still* sounds good.

For an example of midrange hardness, have a listen to this 1997 DG recording:


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## starthrower

I just got the Szell which is a great performance. Solti/CSO is good too. Neumann is okay, but nothing that really excites me. That's all I have.


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## Merl

More recommendations in this thread, below.

Dvorak symphony #9


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## DavidA

Kubelik / BPO

By the length of a street!


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## Heck148

Toscanini/NBC - one of AT's greatest
Reiner/CSO - fabulous

Szell/Cleveland is very good, also.


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## Josquin13

I tend to find Czech conductors more authentic, idiomatic, & engaging in this music than non-Czech conductors, especially when they are conducting the Czech Philharmonic:

1. Karel Ancerl, Czech Philharmonic, Supraphon, 1961: 




2. Rafael Kubelik, Czech Philharmonic, live performance, Denon (this performance sounds more idiomatic to me than Kubelik's Vienna & BPO recordings): 




Rafael Kubelik, Berlin Philharmonic, DG (1973): 




Rafael Kubelik, Bavarian Radio S.O. (Kubelik conducting his own orchestra, in a live 1977 performance): 




3. Rafael Kubelik, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mercury, 1951--I prefer the intensity of this performance to the CSO's recording with Reiner: 




4. Vaclav Neumann, Czech Philharmonic, Supraphon, 1972: 




5. Ferenc Fricsay, Berlin Philharmonic, DG: 




6. Istvan Kertesz, Vienna Philharmonic, Decca, 1961: 




7. Sir Colin Davis, Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Philips:


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## DarkAngel

Agree with Kubelik and Kondrashin 9th, would get the DG originals version for remastered sound

















For 7,8,9 set Szell and Dohnanyi

















Extra bonus points to any version with scherzo capriccio and carnival overture as fillers


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## philoctetes

Talich
Fricsay
Kubelik
Harnoncourt


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## starthrower

DarkAngel said:


> Agree with Kubelik and Kondrashin 9th, would get the DG originals version for remastered sound
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Just got the Szell from a vendor in Israel.


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## bruno parfait

Ancerl's sudio version with the Czech Philarmonic in 1961 is agut wrenching milestone, maybe the darkest of all interpretations of a work that was not intended to convey angst or darkness.


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## Brahmsian Colors

Favorite: Kertesz/Vienna Phiharmonic. I feel it clearly outdistances his later London Symphony version.

Other preferences: the sensitive Walter/Columbia Symphony reading, and Leopold Ludwig's very fine London Symphony performance on the Everest label, and seemingly unknown to many


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