CD: Dvorak: Golden Spinning Wheel, etc: Harnoncourt, et al

Each of Nikolaus Harnoncourt's recordings of the last three Dvorak symphonies with the Royal Concertgebouw was coupled with one of the symphonic poems. A disc of the Piano Concerto (with Pierre-Laurent Aimard as soloist) due to be released in the autumn will include the fourth, but in the meantime Teldec has released on two discs the complete collection of poems, which have consecutive opus numbers from 107 to 110.

Dvorak found himself caught between warring factions in late 19th-century romanticism. On the one hand there was the strictly abstract classicism of Brahms, upon which Dvorak leant heavily in his symphonies; on the other there was the programmatic inclinations of Liszt, Wagner and early Richard Strauss, which were the starting point for these symphonic poems, whose subjects were taken from a gruesome collection of folk ballads.

Harnoncourt's performances bring out the pictorial element vividly and the Concertgebouw playing is predictably superb. There are certainly no dull moments.