{"id":46990,"date":"2024-08-27T13:44:27","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T11:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/f1f61ffd-6de7-42cc-9419-f2d312c69636"},"modified":"2024-08-27T14:07:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T12:07:18","slug":"dvorak-was-one-of-musics-most-gifted-melodists-here-are-seven-masterpieces-and-the-recordings-you-need","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/dvorak-was-one-of-musics-most-gifted-melodists-here-are-seven-masterpieces-and-the-recordings-you-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Dvo\u0159\u00e1k was one of music’s most gifted melodists. Here are seven masterpieces – and the recordings you need"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 27 August 2024 at 11:44 AM<\/p>

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Any list of classical music’s most gifted melodists must surely include the great Anton\u00edn Dvo\u0159\u00e1k<\/a><\/strong> (alongside, let’s see now, Tchaikovsky<\/a><\/strong>, Puccini<\/a><\/strong>, and Rachmaninov<\/strong><\/a>; Schubert<\/a><\/strong>, Mendelssohn<\/strong><\/a> and Mozart<\/a><\/strong>. Will that do for starters?). The man wrote so many wonderful tunes that coming up with a best of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k list is quite the challenge.<\/p>

Apart from a wonderful facility for a good tune, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s distinguishing features as a composer incliude a gift for drama (take the wonderfully taut, foreboding Scherzo from the ‘New World’ Symphony for example, and a brilliant ability to merge classical forms with the rhythms and melodies that sprang from the folk music of his native Bohemia (now the Czech Republic).<\/p>

Ten of the best Czech composers<\/a><\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>
<\/div><\/figure>So where to start among the melodious, folk-inflected, dramatic and often joyous soundworld of this great late Romantic composer? Here are six great gateway pieces to start you off on a long and fruitful Dvo\u0159\u00e1k journey.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-best-of-dvorak\">Best of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k<\/strong><\/h2><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-symphony-no-9-new-world\">Symphony No. 9, \u2018New World\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s groundbreaking and memorable attempt to write a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-symphony\">symphony<\/a><\/strong> using native American music and spirituals is blessed with ear-catching melodies and evocative orchestration.<\/p>Originally titled \u2018From the New World\u2019 and now often nicknamed the ‘New World Symphony’, Dvo\u0159ak’s final symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and composed by Dvo\u0159\u00e1k while living in the Big Apple.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/big-five-orchestras\">Who are the ‘Big Five’ orchestras in the US?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>Composed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/musical-keys-explained\">key<\/a><\/strong> of E minor, the ‘New World’ has four movements: an opening <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-does-allegro-mean-in-music\">Allegro<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, a soulful <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-largo\">Largo<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, a busy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-scherzo\">Scherzo<\/a><\/em><\/strong> and a fiery Finale. Of these, the\u00a0Largo<\/em>, with its soulful, swelling melody, is probably the most iconic. In 1922, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s pupil William Arms Fisher adapted the main\u00a0Largo<\/em>\u00a0theme into a spiritual-like song called \u2018Goin\u2019 Home\u2019. The final movement, meanwhile, features echoes of the motifs that occur in the previous movements.<\/p>Fun fact: the building, in Spillville, Iowa, where Dvo\u0159\u00e1k completed the symphony now houses the\u00a0Bily Clocks Museum.<\/p>Recommended recording:<\/strong> Baltimore Symphony Orchestra\/Marin Alsop Naxos 8.570714 <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/20-greatest-symphonies-all-time\">The 20 Greatest Symphonies of all time<\/strong><\/a> <\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/the-best-recordings-of-dvoraks-symphony-no-9-from-the-new-world\">The best recordings of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s ‘New World’ Symphony<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-slavonic-dances\">Slavonic Dances<\/strong><\/h3>Dvo\u0159\u00e1k originally composed his zestful tribute to the folk music of his homeland for piano duet. Such was the success of the first series that he wrote a sequel.<\/p>Recommended recording:<\/strong> Czech Philharmonic Orchestra\/Charles Mackerras Supraphon SU 3808-2 <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/six-best-lesser-known-pieces-soviet-composers\">Six of the best lesser-known pieces by Soviet composers<\/strong><\/a> <\/li><\/ul><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-rusalka\">Rusalka<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s most famous opera is widely known for the title character\u2019s beautiful ‘Song to the Moon’. The opera itself is based on Slavic folklore: a ‘rusalka’ is a water sprite, or fairy.<\/p>An aria for soprano, the ‘Song to the Moon’ (or ‘M\u011bs\u00ed\u010dku na nebi hlubok\u00e9m’ in the original) is hugely popular in its own right. It’s often performed as a stand-alone piece for concerts and recordings. ‘Song to the Moon’ has also featured on various film soundtracks.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/best-20th-century-british-film-scores\">The best 20th-century film scores<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u2605Renee Fleming,@Dvorak - Song to the moon - Rusalka\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/trfLkYpOglA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure>Recommended recording:<\/strong>Ana Mar\u00eda Mart\u00ednez, Larissa Diadkova; Glyndebourne Chorus; LPO\/Ji\u0159\u00ed B\u011blohl\u00e1vekGlyndebourne GFOCD 007-09<\/p><p\/><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-shostakovichs-symphony-no-7\/\">A guide to Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-string-quartet-no-12-american\">String Quartet No. 12, \u2018American\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>Dvo\u0159\u00e1k composed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-string-quartet\">string quartets<\/a><\/strong> during most of his career. In fact, there are 15 of them and, broadly, they get progressively finer as you go along, with all of those from roughly number 9 onwards regulars in the performing and recording repertoire. <\/p>The best known, and as so often it’s the one with the nickname, is his String Quartet No. 12 ‘American’ – composed, like the ‘New World’ above, during his time living and teaching in the United States. <\/p>Recommended recording:<\/strong> Praz\u00e1k Quartet Praga PR 250110<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-difference-between-violin-and-viola\/\">What is the difference between a violin and a viola?<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-more-best-of-dvorak-chamber-symphonic-and-concerto-masterpieces\">More best of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k: chamber, symphonic and concerto masterpieces<\/strong><\/h2><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-cello-concerto\">Cello Concerto<\/strong><\/h3>Arguably the greatest of the Romantic cello concertos \u2013 an impassioned hymn to his homeland and a poignant tribute to his recently deceased sister-in-law.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-cello-concertos-of-all-time\">The greatest cello concertos of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>On the one hand, it reflects Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s nostalgia and yearning for his native land, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/what-brought-dvorak-to-the-new-world\/\">after he left Bohemia for America.<\/a><\/strong> Alongside this, the Cello Concerto is a lament for the composer’s sister-in-law Josefina, who passed away during the work’s composition. Josefina had been a grand passion of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s: he had proposed marriage to her, but she had rejected him. Dvo\u0159\u00e1k married her sister Anna instead, and the couple were very happy. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dvo\u0159\u00e1k: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 | Tonhalle-Orchester Z\u00fcrich & Anastasia Kobekina\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wBFeeOt_SGY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure>His Cello Concerto has been much admired in many quarters. Upon hearing the work, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s mentor\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/johannes-brahms\/\">Brahms<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is believed to have commented that, had he realised that the cello could lend itself to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-concerto\">concerto<\/a><\/strong> form, he would have composed something similar himself.<\/p>Recommended recording:<\/strong>Pieter Wispelwey; Budapest Festival Orchestra\/Iv\u00e1n FischerChannel CCSSA 25807<\/p>You can hear Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s Cello Concerto at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/bbc-proms\/2024-bbc-proms-listings\">2024 BBC Proms<\/a><\/strong>. It’s being performed by the Russian cellist Anastasia Kobekina, accompanied by the Czech Philharmonic and conductor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/jakub-hrusa\">Jakub Hr\u016f\u0161a<\/a><\/strong>, for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/bbc-proms-today-27-august-2024\">Prom 49<\/a><\/strong> (Tue 27 Aug).<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-cello-works\/\">Six of the best cello works<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-piano-quintet-no-2\">Piano Quintet No. 2<\/strong><\/h3>Alongside those by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/johannes-brahms\">Brahms<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/robert-schumann\">Schumann<\/a><\/strong> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/dmitri-shostakovich\">Shostakovich<\/strong><\/a> (and actually, we’ll add the wonderful work by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/edward-elgar\">Elgar<\/a><\/strong> as well), Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s second Piano Quintet can take its place among the very finest examples of the piano quintet form.<\/p>Highlights include a first movement that, after a quiet opening, works through a series of elaborate and exciting modulations. Both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/viola-how-to-play-tune-clean-beginners\">viola<\/a><\/strong> and cello take centre stage here, before the violins develop the theme and we then move towards an effervescent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-coda\">coda<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>Both middle movements are idiomatic and hugely captivating: the second movement is a Dumka<\/em>, derived from Ukrainian folk music, while the third movement is a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Furiant\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Furiant<\/strong><\/a>, a rapid Bohemian folk dance. Cello and viola are to the fore again here, trading a rhythmic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-pizzicato\">pizzicato<\/em><\/a><\/strong> while the first violin carries the tune. There follows a slower trio section shared by piano and violin.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/ukrainian-folk-songs\">Ukrainian folk songs: ten of the best<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-symphony-no-7\">Symphony No. 7<\/strong><\/h3>OK, so (of course) we mentioned Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s Ninth above, as it is one of the absolute cornerstones of the classical canon, and one of the best-loved and most-recorded symphonies in the repertoire. When it comes to the very finest Dvo\u0159\u00e1k symphony, however, we might just sneak in its predecessor, the Seventh. <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/dvorak-symphony-5\">The sunny Dvo\u0159\u00e1k symphony guaranteed to give your mood a lift<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>Composed in 1885, some eight years before the ‘New World’, the Seventh is an undoubted masterpiece. Highlights include a grave, solemn and dramatic first movement that calls to mind Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s mentor Brahms; a lyrical slow movement featuring one of the most beautiful <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/the-history-of-the-french-horn\">French horn<\/a><\/strong> passages in all of classical music; and another folk-inflected\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-scherzo\">Scherzo<\/a><\/em><\/strong> that ripples with urgency and rhythm. <\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Published: Tuesday, 27 August 2024 at 11:44 AM Any list of classical music’s most gifted melodists must surely include the great Anton\u00edn Dvo\u0159\u00e1k (alongside, let’s see now, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, and Rachmaninov; Schubert, Mendelssohn and Mozart. Will that do for starters?). The man wrote so many wonderful tunes that coming up with a best of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":46991,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/dvorak-was-one-of-musics-most-gifted-melodists-here-are-seven-masterpieces-and-the-recordings-you-need.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/dvorak-was-one-of-musics-most-gifted-melodists-here-are-seven-masterpieces-and-the-recordings-you-need-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/dvorak-was-one-of-musics-most-gifted-melodists-here-are-seven-masterpieces-and-the-recordings-you-need-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/dvorak-was-one-of-musics-most-gifted-melodists-here-are-seven-masterpieces-and-the-recordings-you-need-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/dvorak-was-one-of-musics-most-gifted-melodists-here-are-seven-masterpieces-and-the-recordings-you-need-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/dvorak-was-one-of-musics-most-gifted-melodists-here-are-seven-masterpieces-and-the-recordings-you-need.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/dvorak-was-one-of-musics-most-gifted-melodists-here-are-seven-masterpieces-and-the-recordings-you-need.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Tuesday, 27 August 2024 at 11:44 AM Any list of classical music’s most gifted melodists must surely include the great Anton\u00edn Dvo\u0159\u00e1k (alongside, let’s see now, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, and Rachmaninov; Schubert, Mendelssohn and Mozart. Will that do for starters?). 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