American-born Russian conductor Kreizberg may be in the middle of a Dvorak cycle with his orchestra. He has already disced the Eighth and the New World for PentaTone SACDs. No. 6 was actually the very first of the composer’s symphonies to be published, in 1881. Its four movements have a generally optimistic bent to them, except for a brief more moody section in the Adagio second movement. The very opening theme is extremely catchy, and the Scherzo movement is an energetic Slavonic dance that sounds like it came out of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances.
The 20-minute-length Water Goblin is described as a symphonic narrative, and is one of five symphonic poems which Dvorak wrote shortly after returning to Czechoslovakia after a three-year stay in the U.S. The work is based on a ballad by the Czech national poet at the time, depicting a nasty water goblin who seduces maidens coming to his lake to do washing or bathing. The theme music for the goblin does sound quite threatening and mysterious. There are many dramatic musical effects that are much more violent than anything in the symphony. The surround sonics are excellent in these recordings made in Amsterdam just a couple years ago.
– John Sunier