Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 4, 2014

There are times when you can close your eyes and listen to the music of Antonin Dvořák and swear you were hearing some previously unknown work of Johannes Brahms’. That really shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise considering how much impact Brahms had on Dvořák’s career. Until the German master took Dvořák under his wing, the Czech composer was little known outside of his native Prague. After Brahms’ influence began to be felt, Dvořák, while perhaps not rising quite to the level of his mentor, became an international celebrity in his own right, one whose music continues to be performed with great regularity today. While Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony has become his best known piece, his oeuvre is stuffed to the veritable gills with gorgeous music. Brahms’ aegis is notable in one of Dvořák’s best known non symphonic orchestral pieces, the Slavonic Dances which was modeled on Brahms’ own immensely popular Hungarian Dances.

While the Slavonic Dances were actually first written for two pianos (four hands), their matriculation into the orchestral repertoire was quick and ultimately probably even better known than their original version. Dvořák exploits the full colors of the orchestra here, whether that be the gorgeous (dare I say Brahmsian?) low strings of the Second Dance, to the playful woodwinds of the seventh, or the forceful tuttis of several other dances, replete with colorful percussion effects that almost recall French composers like Bizet and the world of the Can-Can. Hungarian conductor Iván Fischer and The Budapest Festival Orchestra bring a perhaps too measured approach to some of these pieces, especially the up-tempo ones, where Fischer seems to want to emphasize the lyrical side of things over the purely physical motion of the music. The best movements here are the more introspective ones, which Fischer invests with a rare meditative quality.

Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Aside from a static menu, there's no actual video content on this audio Blu-ray disc.

Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

If you've been reading my other reviews of this new slate of High Fidelity Pure Audio releases, it's going to be "same old same old" yet again. This Decca release has the usual three audio codecs (all 96/24), LPCM 2.0 (at the standard 4.6 Mbps), DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (averaging in the high 3's) and Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (averaging in the low 3's). As with my previous preferences, the LPCM version sounds fuller bodied to me, if only by increments. There are a few niggling issues with the mix here; often the all important percussion is just slightly buried in the orchestral mass, and once or twice the strings seem to overpower the winds and brass. Clarity is exceptional, however, and fidelity is indeed excellent.

Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are offered on this audio Blu-ray.

Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This set of performances may not quite rise to the highest level of some of the more iconic renditions of these fantastic pieces, but there is a lot of color here, if not a surplus of joy or energy. This latest in the largely laudable High Fidelity Pure Audio releases from Universal's many audio imprints boasts superb clarity and fidelity. Recommended.