A DVORAK SYMPHONY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20650, 23 August 1930, Page 10 (Supplement)

A DVORAK SYMPHONY.

NEW BRUNSWICK RECORDING. Brunswick has made a valuable contribution to recorded music with its presentation of Dvorak's Fourth Symphonj, in G Major, played by the Symphony Orchestra under Basil Cameron. We know Dvorak best by his Fifth (New World) Svmphony, but this work is a light-hearted and attractive piece of little more than half an hour's duration. It Was composed in the winter of 1889-90 and consists of four movements. In tho vigorous opening who remember the once-popular tune, Private Tommy Atkins," will notice a tlieme very much like its opening-phrases. This is introduced by' the brass" and it treated in its variations by the strings, until the subsidiary tliemo is introduced by the bassoons, and tho movement is brought to a powerful conclusion. After the wellpunctuated solomnity of tho opening, the second movement swings into a graceful adagio, in which a beautiful melody is sustained by the violins. This is taken by all the instruments of the orchestra in a dialogue style just before the finale. Tho short third movement is an allegretto performed by tho strings. It is a tiling of delightful grace and rich orchestration. The fourth movement is filled* with melody which is handled by practically every group in the orchestra in turn. It moves in the lively style of the Slavonic dances that lovers of Dvorak know so well. The recording is very fine, and the performance of the orchestra is most creditable.