Search - Dvorak, Kertesz, Lso :: Symphony 9

The tragically short-lived Hungarian conductor Istvan Kertész was colorful, intense, and highly spontaneous but always respectful of a work's structure and a composer's style. Thus, in addition to their warmth and spirit, his readings of Dvorák's symphonies are notable for their grasp of architecture and idiomatic good sense. This account of the New World Symphony was actually Kertész's second on disc (he had earlier recorded it with the Vienna Philharmonic), and it shows the conductor at his best. The introduction is firm and rather forbidding, a good characterization, and the ensuing Allegro is taut, its play of light and shade carried off brilliantly. Elegance and subtlety of pacing mark the beautifully realized Largo, in which the playing of the London Symphony, suitably muted and sensitive, shows beautiful polish. The final two movements are grandly exuberant. This was Kertész and the LSO at the peak; as a performance of the Ninth, it has yet to be bettered, and the sound, after more than a quarter of a century, is still ravishing. --Ted Libbey