Search - Dvorak, Jarvi, Scottish National Orchestra :: Tone Poems / My Home Overture

With Rafael Kubelik's classic performances on DG shamefully out of print, this is just about the only show in town for Dvorák's symphonic poems. Fortunately, they are very fine performances, marred only by the slightly overreverberant recording in a couple of works. Purely from the musical standpoint, Neeme Järvi's extremely direct, exciting conducting suits these colorful and dramatic works very well. It's also great to have the last and most neglected of the five, Heroic Song, included for a change. It's no less enjoyable than the other four, and only the fact that it's not based on a folk tale has prevented it from receiving the attention it deserves. A fine set. - -David Hurwitz