#162 The Smell of Aging

Moving continuously, never stopping, never resting but not growing, not building anything: mining, going under surface and beyond. It dissects us, our surroundings, leaving us sad, empty, awaiting. The effect is hollow, the experience is the aging.

Bělohlávek delivers rich, spontaneous performance. Strings soften the shades, wood instruments are so crushing, rapacious.

Composer: Josef Suk
Work: Ripening, II. Poco allegro inquieto e poco rubato
Recording: Jiří Bělohlávek, BBC Symphony Orchestra

#122 The Smell of Ocean

This is monumental. Ocean is opening in front of you. Infinite waters, infinite skies. Majestic, with no story, no action: It just exists. Entireness and beauty and sun.

Philadelphia Orchestra has a well balanced sound. Ormandy can control the climax, keeping the orchestra wonderfully in a bolero-like trajectory.

Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Work: The Pines of Rome, IV. The Pines of The Appian Way
Recording: Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy

#121 The Smell of Gold

It's not only about the spinning wheel itself. Gold jets from the music all the time: golden fields, a nobleman in gold. Dvořák is building his musical narrative around it.

BPO has a solid sound and Rattle's reading is soft but not passionate. It's a horror without absorption.

Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Work: The Golden Spinning-Wheel
Recording: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Rattle

#53 The Smell of Heat

One can hardly forget that this symphonic poem has a program, beat by beat. It's wild, dirty, abrasive. You can smell fear and abandonment. "Give me the child!" in trombones is pure horror.

But I really stare in consternation when Dvořák forms the heat of a summer day with all its terrible compactness and unfulfilled expectations. The combination of idyll and terror is unbeatable.

Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Work: The Noon Witch
Recording: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt