Cheap Dvorák: Piano Concerto; The Golden Spinning Wheel (Music) (Antonin Dvorak, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Pierre-Laurent Aimard) Price

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Customer Reviews of Dvorák: Piano Concerto; The Golden Spinning Wheel

Inspired Performances of Dvorak's Lesser Known Works
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra are splendid partners in this fine CD of two of Dvorak's lesser known orchestral works which deserve far more attention than they have earned so far. Dvorak's piano concerto is most memorable as the immediate precursor to the great symphonic concertos (think symphony with a soloist) composed by his mentor and friend Johannes Brahms for the piano. Indeed, Dvorak's role for the soloist is merely as the leader in an essentially expanded version of a chamber ensemble work. Here Aimard excels, with a brisk, lively performance that shows his affinity for Dvorak's score (I have had the pleasure of hearing Aimard perform this same piece live at Carnegie Hall with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; his live performance on the Warner CD is no less as riveting as the performance I saw.). Both Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra are superb accompanists. However, as much as I enjoyed this performance, it doesn't seem nearly as magical as Richter's celebrated account with Carlos Kleiber conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra that has been reissued recently by EMI; Richter's recording still has to be regarded as the definitive one for this work.

The other Dvorak work, a forgotten symphonic tone poem, "The Golden Spinning Wheel", is truly the best reason for acquiring this CD. Harnoncourt does a splendid job emphasizing the Slavic folk melody origins of this work, in a performance that must rate as one of his finest collaborations with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. It's a pity Warner Classics took more than a year and a half to release this fine recording; if there are any more magical performances from Harnoncourt still in its vaults, I hope they are released soon.

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Neither work on this disc is my favorite of Dvorak, but these are both clean, convincing, inspired performances. Aimard and Harnoncourt are a team made in heaven. For the concerto, you will also want the classic recording of Sviatoslav Richter and Carlos Kleiber on EMI... While this disc is desirable, I highly recommend Aimard and Harnoncourt's previous Teldec release, the Beethoven piano concerti with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; they're absolutely essential.