A nice enough performance but the recording is lacking
David Robinson | Oakland, CA United States | 05/31/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"When Dvorak wrote the Slavonic Dances,most people were going to hear them at home around the piano. In fact, the 4-hand piano versons pre-date the later, more familiar orchestrations. They are wonderful music with great energy, full of contrasts of speed and dynamic. The performance here is accurate and at times spirited. But the technical aspects of the recording are a disappointment. It sounds as if just one microphone was set up at a considerable distance. The stereo separation never sounds right. The Labeque's powerful recording on Philips is to preferred on the grounds of both performance and reproduction, but sadly it's no longer available in the US. So this recording will work if you want to study the original 4-hand version of the Dances."
Very Fine Piano Performance of These Delightful Dances!
James Yelvington | USA | 02/17/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
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The Matthies-Köhn Duo does a very fine job of rendering Dvorák's charming sets of Slavonic Dances. The sound is of excellent digital quality and clarity. Ms. Matthies and Mr. Köhn are eminently capable of playing these not-extremely-difficult pieces and their interpretation is not lacking in any respect. On the contrary, they bring out all the charm of these wonderful, ethnically-colored dances. While it is true that their performance may not quite reach the bravura brilliance of the Philips recording by the Labèque sisters, it may be truer to the essential nature of the compositions as originally conceived: homemade music-making.
I need to point out an error in the CD listing involving tracks #3 and #6. On track #3 the dance played is actually the A-flat Major dance listed for track #6. On track #6 the dance played is the D Major dance listed for track #3. What is played therefore corresponds to Dvorák's original manuscript.
The confusion between dance numbers in the first set (Op. 46) was introduced by the publisher Simrock in the initial edition of the dances for piano four-hands. For an unknown reason Simrock interchanged dances 3 and 6 from Dvorák's manuscript, making the 3rd dance the one in D Major and the 6th the one in A-flat Major. When Dvorák orchestrated the dances later on that year he restored his original order, making dance 3 the one in A-flat Major and dance 6 the one in D Major. So the sound presented here is quite correct according to Dvorák's composition, but the descriptions on the program listing are interchanged. (The Labèque recording, by the way, uses Simrock's order and plays the D Major dance as dance 3 and the A-flat Major dance as dance 6, as does the Brendel-Klien recording mentioned below.)
I have the Labèque CD also and enjoy both. For sheer brilliance and showmanship the Labèques cannot be topped, but for a fine, less over-the-top performance, the Matthies-Köhn reading is an utter delight!
An older, analog recording performed by Alfred Brendel and Walter Klien on the VOX label may still be found as a VoxBox album containing 2 CDs. The performance is very fine and the sound, though not digital, is very good. And besides the Slavonic Dances it includes the Brahms Hungarian Dances by the same players and a set of 16 Brahms waltzes played by husband and wife pianists Walter and Beatriz Klien.
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A must have!!
James Yelvington | 02/06/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Absolutely terrific. Even better than the full orchestra version. Relaxing, yet not too slow."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1
