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LAhav Shani’s eight years at the helm of the Rotterdam Philharmonic are coming to an end – he will become principal conductor at the Munich Philharmonic in September – and he is leaving this fine orchestra in good stead. Their recording of Dvořák’s Symphony No 9 brings a natural freshness to this well-known work, offering no grand surprises or big gestures but a quick observation and beautiful restlessness.
The revelation of the first movement is not quick but continuous: Shani does not cover the words, but gives them space and power to move physically from one to the other. The big woodwind solos – a velvety flute in the first movement, a cor anglais in the second – make their mark without signposting.
Nothing too heavy, and there is a jump in the middle part of the third party that makes it sound funny. But the finale still has all the weight it needs, its vibrancy and depth melting into a sweet clarinet solo and then blossoming into something exciting and grand.
Like the eagle, there is a Dutch omission: Johan Wagenaar’s 1905 poem Cyrano de Bergerac. It may not be clearly inspired by Strauss’s Don Juan, but it’s easy to enjoy, and it finds the Rotterdam players in a swashbuckling mood.
