DVORAK. Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 13. In Nature's Realm—Overture, Op. gi. London Symphony Orches- tra conducted by Istvan Kertesz, Decca Q LXT6257 0 SXL6257 (12 in., 32s, 3d. plus 5s. 9d PT).

Symphony No. 4:

Prague SO, Neumann (11/60) (R) 0 SUA1011O (1165) 0 SIJAST50004

Kertesz's complete cycle of the Dvoiák symphonies grows rapidly. This early D minor Symphony was written in 1873 at about the time when Dvoiák finally gave up hope of winning the beautiful Josefina Cernáková and married her sister Anna instead, a contralto in the chorus of the National Opera. One would like to report that the composer's love is reflected in the music, but by Dvofákian standards there is a lot of matter-or-fact writing, notably in the crude march-rhythms of the trio in the third movement and the finale.

To compensate for this there are some profoundly characteristic bursts of lyricism. In the first movement the second subject soars aloft in triple time, a blessing after the fanfare-like first subject, which is more conventional—Dvnfák fulfilling what he thought to be his symphonic duty rather than writing from the heart. The slow movement begins with an outrageous crib from Wagner's Tannhàuser (the "Pilgrim's March") not merely in the dark orchestration but the actual shape of the tune, which goes on to form the basis of an attractive enough set of variations. The scherzo has a lolloping theme (rather like Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!) which, following Constant Lambert's formula about folksongs, is first played soft and then very laud. Similarly with the deplorable march-tune of the trio, punctuated by more cymbal crashes than is quite credible. The finale gets bogged down in the stodgy repetitious rhythm of the main subject not even carrying over properly from bar to bar, but there is wonderful relief in the lyrical first episode. I am inclined to think that such a Symphony, which does not begin to match Nos. 5 and 6 in their intense Dvofákian exuberance, requires persuasive rather than direct treatment. Kertesz, following the pattern of his other Dvoiák recordings, is most understanding, and the lyrical highlights I have mentioned have just the sort of joyfulness that I have noted in his accounts of the later symphonies. But in the more banal themes his straight approach does nothing to conceal the weaknesses. Rather one is presented with the banality with no apology whatever, and though in a sense the result is strong, I tend on the whole to find Vaclav Neumann more appealing on the rival Supraphon disc. There the Czech instrumentalists of the Prague Symphony Orchestra have more relaxed speeds in the last two movements, which allows them much more scope for the coaxing Bohemian approach. The weaknesses are remarkably disguised, but Jet me say at once that Dvoiák's banality has very much the same quality as the 'rum-ti-turn' band effects of early Verdi, and most of us now recognise that pre-war wincing on that score is quite beside the point. So it could conceivably be with passages of these early Dvofák symphonies that initially make us recoil.

In any case the recording quality of the new Decca is far preferable to the overreverberant Supraphon, good as that is by the standards of Supraphon's Dvofák. Also for the extra money of the Decca you get a bright and delightful performance of the overture In Nature's Realm, one of the three (Carnival and Othello being the others) which form a kind of overture cycle with a linking of themes. E.G.