Dvorak - Symphonic Variations [Jarvi-Scottish National Orchestra]
As you can see from the back insert, i've added a sticker with the individual variations within the track, as Chandos have only allotted this as 'track 5', i like to know where i'm at, and which variations is tugging at my heart and soul, these are not variations in the style of say Elgar / Enigma Variations, rather these are very short little vignettes of colour, in a work which lasts 21 minutes, there's 27 variations, considering the Theme and the Finale, it's roughly 37 seconds per variation!, you get the picture1, it chops and changes all over the place, but i like it this way, each variation is a lovely little gem in a kaleidoscope of others.
Neeme Jarvi is Estonian, he's now 74, he seems to have recorded a cycle of every Symphony for Chandos / BIS / DG, and his Dvorak / Chandos cycle is no exception, plus a great double disc of his Tone Poems also, the individual discs have a lovely theme on the front cover, wood cuts of different rustic scenes [by Clare Melinsky], all in a different monocolour, i love the way, it's boxed small on the booklet front, love the colour theme too.
However much i love Dvorak's 3rd Symphony [it's actually my second favourite after the Ninth], it was the Symphonic Variations that i was enamoured to, an ingenious set of variations, that instead of stop / start, they flow into one another as if they're one track, and of all of these variations, it was a bunch in the middle that really got me going, variations 14-18, here's a little synopsis,
Variation 14 [8:09-9:02] - Almost sounding if it's going to burst into his Ninth Symphony, a lovely serenade, great flute work at the beginning, and then in the second half a bassoon joins in.
Variation 15 [9:03-9:39] - A very brassy variation, the woodwind have their little say, but it's the brass that have the final say.
Variation 16 [9:39-10:20] - And it bleeds straight into the next variation, where the brass build up into a frantic finale, the woodwinds come in again towards the end.
Variation 17 [10:21-11:05] - The flute seems to feature heavily in this section of variations, areal little pied piper tune.
Variation 18 [11:05-12:02] - Then the key changes, the whole of the work is in C Major, but changes in this variation to D Major, a pithy string tune in the high violins, but the flute again intrudes in the middle, low horns behind the strings give it a certain glow, a lovely little section.
Here's Neeme Jarvi on YouTube with the Symphonic Variations.
Neeme Jarvi is Estonian, he's now 74, he seems to have recorded a cycle of every Symphony for Chandos / BIS / DG, and his Dvorak / Chandos cycle is no exception, plus a great double disc of his Tone Poems also, the individual discs have a lovely theme on the front cover, wood cuts of different rustic scenes [by Clare Melinsky], all in a different monocolour, i love the way, it's boxed small on the booklet front, love the colour theme too.
However much i love Dvorak's 3rd Symphony [it's actually my second favourite after the Ninth], it was the Symphonic Variations that i was enamoured to, an ingenious set of variations, that instead of stop / start, they flow into one another as if they're one track, and of all of these variations, it was a bunch in the middle that really got me going, variations 14-18, here's a little synopsis,
Variation 14 [8:09-9:02] - Almost sounding if it's going to burst into his Ninth Symphony, a lovely serenade, great flute work at the beginning, and then in the second half a bassoon joins in.
Variation 15 [9:03-9:39] - A very brassy variation, the woodwind have their little say, but it's the brass that have the final say.
Variation 16 [9:39-10:20] - And it bleeds straight into the next variation, where the brass build up into a frantic finale, the woodwinds come in again towards the end.
Variation 17 [10:21-11:05] - The flute seems to feature heavily in this section of variations, areal little pied piper tune.
Variation 18 [11:05-12:02] - Then the key changes, the whole of the work is in C Major, but changes in this variation to D Major, a pithy string tune in the high violins, but the flute again intrudes in the middle, low horns behind the strings give it a certain glow, a lovely little section.
Here's Neeme Jarvi on YouTube with the Symphonic Variations.
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