There’s an engaging outdoors feel to these lively and shapely performances – played with enthusiasm and well-recorded – in which Jaime Martín brings out the bucolic writing without over-stressing it, ensuring beguiling detail (if not from timpani, rather muddy), soulful beauty and Slavonic dancing. Both of these Symphonies are overshadowed by the three that followed, and yet they are jewels in terms of wonderful tunes and (end of the Fifth, Scherzo and closing stages of the Sixth) exciting verve, which Martín and the MSO delight in, maybe not as comprehensively/instinctively as, say, Kertész, Kubelík, Neumann, Rowicki or Suitner, with an honourable mention for Serebrier, but very enjoyable, if slightly compromised by the need for greater flexibility at times – nevertheless, cycles aside, a useful collection (or Christmas-stocking) filler. Martín observes the Fifth’s exposition repeat, but not the Sixth’s, and the playing time is 83:30. MSO0002 [SACD] is released on November 22.
Jaime Martín & Melbourne Symphony Orchestra record Dvořák’s Fifth & Sixth Symphonies for MSO label.
I remember being in Prague when Libor Pesek recorded the 6th Symphony with the Czech Philharmonic for Supraphon/Virgin, and he similarly didn’t repeat the expostion. He had available Dvorak’s own copy of the score where in the composer’s own handwriting at the repeat sign are the Czech words for ‘Never again’!!
Indeed Brian, but the repeat (together with the several attractive lead-back bars) can still be observed, as (above) Kertész, Rowicki and Serebrier do, more recently Colin Davis (LSO Live); and, away from recordings, Rozhdestvensky at the Proms (BBCSO) some years ago. Colin