BaL 27.01.18 - Dvořák: Serenade for Strings in E major

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 a.m.
Dvořák's Serenade for Strings in E major with Sarah Devonald.
In his early thirties and with a newborn son, Antonín Dvořák was struggling to make ends meet, a professional viola player and virtually unknown as a composer, without even a piano to his name. But in 1874 he won a state competition which not only came with a very welcome cash prize but also the recognition and enthusiastic endorsement of one of the most influential names in music, Johannes Brahms. The sunny and genial five-movement Serenade for Strings is one of a clutch of new works from the following year and marks the beginning of Dvořák's international reputation.

Available versions:-

Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra, Conrad Van Alphen
Cleveland Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy (download)
Prague Philharmonia, Jiří Bělohlávek (download)
New Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, Paavo Berglund
English String Orchestra, William Boughton
Wiener Philharmoniker, Myung-Whun Chung (download)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sir Colin Davis (download)
Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Agnieszka Duczmal (download)
Festival Strings Lucerne, Achim Fiedler
I Tempi, Gevorg Gharabekyan
European New Philharmonic Orchestra, Volker Hartung (download)
Silesian Chamber Orchestra, Jan Wincenty Hawel
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood (download)
Prague Philharmonia, Jakub Hruša
Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
Münchner Philharmoniker, Rudolf Kempe (download)
New York All-State Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Kiesler (download)
Capella Istropolitana, Jaroslav Krecek
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Rafael Kubelik
English Chamber Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik
Ukrainian Chamber Orchestra, Theodore Kuchar
Czech Chamber Orchestra, Ondrej Kukal
Goldberg Ensemble, Malcolm Layfield
English Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Yehudi Menuhin (download)
Solisti di Praga, Boris Monoszon (download)
Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Karl Münchinger
Orchestre de Chambre Appassionata, Daniel Myssyk (download)
London Symphony Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy (download)
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (download)
Saito Kinen Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Archi dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Luigi Piovano (download)
Beethoven Academie, Pawel Przytocki (download)
Orquesta de Camara de Granada, Misha Rachlevsky
Harmonia Nova Orchestral Ensemble, Steven Richman (download)
Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Janos Rolla (download)
Musica Viva, Alexander Rudin
Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, Michael Sanderling
Metamorphosen Berlin, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt
Chamber Orchestra Of Europe, Alexander Schneider
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
Wratislavia Chamber Orchestra, Jan Stanienda (download)
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Václav Talich
Chamber Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Alexander Titov (download)
I Musici de Montréal, Yuli Turovsky (download)
Camerata Academica Salzburg, Sandor Végh
Czech Chamber Orchestra, Josef Vlach
Philharmonia Orchestra, Christopher Warren-Green
London Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Warren-Green (download)
Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Peter Wohlert (download)


Wind Band arrangement:

Ohio State University Wind Symphony, Russel C. Mikkelson (arr. Mikkelson)


Chamber octet version:

Camerata Nova Prague & Members of The Czech Nonet, Josef Suk (arr. Nick Ingman)

[mikealdren]

Interesting choice of reviewer, an oboist for the Serenade for Strings....

[MickyD]

This is such a lovely work. I have the LPO/Hogwood version, coupled with the wind serenade, played in their original scorings and layout.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

This is such a lovely work.

- loved it since I first heard it when I was about 13; never lost its appeal.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Interesting choice of reviewer, an oboist for the Serenade for Strings....

Multi-talented - and it is a jewel of a work.

https://www.hvaf.org.uk/News/Newsletters/June-2011/Sarah-Devonald

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Interesting choice of reviewer, an oboist for the Serenade for Strings....

Much less likely to have preconceptions.

[Tony Halstead]

Much less likely to have preconceptions.

[cloughie]

Alps, what is interesting is the number of recordings no longer available, some never on CD perhaps, some of which are very good indeed:

LSO Ahronovitch
ECO Barenboim
NS Chung
LausanneCO Jordan
IPO Kubelik
SCO Laredo
ASMF Marriner*
* two recordings one was Argo, the other Philips
J-FPaillardCO Paillard
LFO Pople
MunPAO Redel
BBCSO Schwarz R
RPO Stokowski
VirtPrague Vlcek
SlovakCO Warchal
StPCO Wolff

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Alps, what is interesting is the number of recordings no longer available, some never on CD perhaps, some of which are very good indeed:

LSO Ahronovitch
ECO Barenboim
NS Chung
LausanneCO Jordan
IPO Kubelik
SCO Laredo
ASMF Marriner*
* two recordings one was Argo, the other Philips
J-FPaillardCO Paillard
LFO Pople
MunPAO Redel
BBCSO Schwarz R
RPO Stokowski
VirtPrague Vlcek
SlovakCO Warchal
StPCO Wolff

I think there are still two Marriner recordings available, but I'm not certain.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Sarah Devonald did an excellent BaL of Strauss's Oboe Concerto in 2014.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?12161-BaL-25-10-14-Strauss-Oboe-Concerto/page4&highlight=Strauss+Oboe+Concerto

[vinteuil]

Chamber octet arrangement:

Camerata Nova Prague & Members of The Czech Nonet, Josef Suk (arr. Nick Ingman)

... I don't think this is an arrangement - the musicologist Nick Ingman's studies established the 1873 octet version (two violins, viola, double-bass, clarinet, horn, bassoon, piano) as the 'original'. The liner notes to the Czech Nonet CD on Praga say "the presence of a piano and a double-bass in the direct melodic role manifest a da camera essence that the final version for strings alone must preserve. The discovery of this early instrumental work makes it hard to defend the extension to large string orchestra that is frequently heard today."

http://a.co/379bEW7

.

[vinteuil]

Alps, what is interesting is the number of recordings no longer available, some never on CD perhaps, some of which are very good indeed:

StPCO Wolff

... the St Paul Chamber Orchestra / Wolff is I think available

http://amzn.eu/5ekqmw5

... and also on this 6 CD set -

http://amzn.eu/8pECXH5

.

[cloughie]

... the St Paul Chamber Orchestra / Wolff is I think available

http://amzn.eu/5ekqmw5

... and also on this 6 CD set -

http://amzn.eu/8pECXH5

.

Also available on an Ultima 2CD set with the Cello Concerto (Noras/Oramo) and New World (Inbal).

[BBMmk2]

This is one Dvorak work I do t know very well. Must play some more of his music again.

[mikealdren]

This is one Dvorak work I do t know very well. Must play some more of his music again.

Do, he was a very fine composer and this is one of his masterpieces.