[dko22]

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.

 

[dko22]

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....

 

[dko22]

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.

 

[dko22]

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.