Antonin Dvorak's Ninth Symphony

I never realised that I owned six versions of Antonin Dvorak's Ninth Symphony in E Minor until I was looking through my compact disc and vinyl record collection this afternoon. But this is a piece of music that I can never get tired of listening to.

The first compact disc was from The Classical Collection which I was subscribing to in the early 1990s. Every week, a new compact disc featuring works by different classical composers would be released with a magazine. I was collecting diligently but never knew how many compact discs would be there in the series. I only stopped when the numbers proved too many for me. (I stopped at No.45 but should have continued till No.50.) Anyway, this version of the Ninth Symphony was played by the Philharmonia Slavonica with Henry Adolph conducting.

The second compact disc featured the modern American composer, Leonard Bernstein, who was the musical director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. I remember watching Bernstein on black-and-white television in the 1970s. Young People's Concert, I think his programme was called and through his explanations, he made classical music so interesting. Anyway in this compact disc, he took his New York Philharmonic Orchestra through their paces.

The renowned Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker were featured in the third compact disc. A check through the Amazon website revealed that Karajan recorded this work many times; once a decade throughout his long career, so I'm told. I don't know how this 1977 version I possess would rank among the rest of them but it is impressive.

Then there was this version by the Minnesota Orchestra with Sir Neville Marriner conducting. A serious enough recording BUT with a difference. At the start or end of each movement, sonic paintings of nature were inserted, inspired by the Song of Hiawatha. So instead of the silence between movements, there would be soothing sounds of nature like water running through a stream or a thunderstorm or birds chirping. A much welcomed change but purists would certainly baulk at this compact disc. Who cares? 

And the two final versions of the Ninth Symphony were on vinyl records.From The New World was performed by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Karel Ancerl conducting at a time when there was still a state called Czechoslovakia, while the New World Symphony was played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of their musical director, Arthur Fiedler.