Dvorak

[teamsaint]

Maybe D would occupy a higher place in the Pantheon if he'd written more sad music? Much of his best work, it seems to me, is filled with sunshine and the joy of being alive.

I was listening to one of the quartets this morning, with thoughts of the thread in my mind, and came to much the same conclusion. Angst sells well.
Edit: perhaps in musical terms , something similar to the " Mendelssohn" factor in terms of personality !

Certain pieces, such as the American and Slavonic quartets DO get played a lot, but they deserve to.

Perhaps he was the original " Sunny D"...without the artificial additives, of course......

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Maybe D would occupy a higher place in the Pantheon if he'd written more sad music? Much of his best work, it seems to me, is filled with sunshine and the joy of being alive.

Gosh! You may be right - but what a sad reflection on the Pantheon that would be! There is a vein of gentle melancholi in some of Dvorak's work (and the end of the 'cello Concerto aches with a sense of loss) - but, as a celebration of life, I value Dvorak's best works more highly than some of his gloomier contemporaries.

And, hearing today about his socio-political attitudes whilst teaching in the US, I admire the man himself even more.

[BBMmk2]

Better having light coming in, rather going into the abyss with melancholy?

[Barbirollians]

Maybe D would occupy a higher place in the Pantheon if he'd written more sad music? Much of his best work, it seems to me, is filled with sunshine and the joy of being alive.

Surely he has a high place in the pantheon ? One of the very greatest composers IMO. So often if i need cheering up it is to Dvorak I turn .

The Cello Concerto whilst not being the cheeriest of his works is very much a Desert Island Disc for me . It , together with the Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5 , Mozart K271 and Chopin's waltzes were the records that opened the door of classical music to me as a teenager .

[Pabmusic]

...Did you do this by rewriting, or were you able to streamline things using electronics plus computers? ...

It's actually for full orchestra. The brass sounds have no edge to them, so you have to have a very open mind.

Everything's rewritten, rather as if you regarded the original as a short score for the orchestral score (you can't do this successfully with too many quartets, but you can with some). The full score is in Sibelius 6.

It works quite well and has been played by amateur orchestras twice in the UK and once in Germany.

[teamsaint]

He’s back this week.
Is this a new series, or a repeat?
Edit: looks like a new one.

Slightly odd narrative from DM I thought, with chronology not high on his list of priorities,but redeemed a bit by what sounded an enjoyable performance of the third symphony.

[Bryn]

He’s back this week.
Is this a new series, or a repeat?

Slightly odd narrative from DM I thought, with chronology not high on his list of priorities, but redeemed a bit by what sounded an enjoyable performance of the third symphony.

According to the online schedule, it was previously broadcast twice (including the early evening repeat) last year (second week of April).

[teamsaint]

According to the online schedule, it was previously broadcast twice (including the early evening repeat) last year (second week of April).

Ah, thanks. So it is a repeat, but not of the one that it isn’t a repeat of.(2013).....no wonder DM sounded a bit confused........

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Slightly odd narrative from DM I thought, with chronology not high on his list of priorities,but redeemed a bit by what sounded an enjoyable performance of the third symphony.

The week's programmes focus on the works from the 1870s - so, rather than a chronological survey of a composer's life, it's looking at the decade that saw Dvorak emerge with his own individual style. (Rather a better plan for a composer as well-known as Tony - and avoiding that "rather disappointing Monday of early works" feeling that the "life survey" weeks often present.)

But, yes - a very good performance of the marvellous Third Symphony. I do so enjoy Dvorak's Music - a pity that what looked set to be a totally delightful week of programmes is to be marred by so many single movements from large-scale works.

[teamsaint]

The week's programmes focus on the works from the 1870s - so, rather than a chronological survey of a composer's life, it's looking at the decade that saw Dvorak emerge with his own individual style. (Rather a better plan for a composer as well-known as Tony - and avoiding that "rather disappointing Monday of early works" feeling that the "life survey" weeks often present.)

But, yes - a very good performance of the marvellous Third Symphony. I do so enjoy Dvorak's Music - a pity that what looked set to be a totally delightful week of programmes is to be marred by so many single movements from large-scale works.

Just listened again to the start of the programme,which is clear enough in setting out its aim of looking at the specific decade . I didn't feel that the week was that well set up, with some unhelpful " We'll return to that later" stuff from DM, and no real context for how original "The King and the Charcoal Burner" came to be written. But perhaps I'm being a bit picky.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I didn't feel that the week was that well set up, with some unhelpful " We'll return to that later" stuff from DM

and no real context for how original "The King and the Charcoal Burner" came to be written. But perhaps I'm being a bit picky.

I don't think that you are - it's what I've thought of in recent months as the "Hello"-type aspect to the discussion of the works; more emphasis given to biographical tittle-tattle than to the Music and its (wider) background. A particular "missed trick" for me occurred a couple of weeks ago, during the Gounod programmes - we were told that the composer had had to leave the manuscript of his recent opera with his former landlady/inamorata at the end of a relationship, and therefore he'd had to rewrite the work from memory. We were given plenty of juicy description of the end of the romance - but not a syllable was hinted about the much more interesting Musical point: how closely the rewrite matched the original? This would have given a valuable insight into the composer's mind ... but who needs that if you can instead spend the time passing on second-hand opinions of a woman's personality!

I presume, too, that the original score for The Charcoal Burner was itself burnt along with the other scores the composer was dissatisfied with. Would've been fun to be able to compare the two.

[aeolium]

I didn't feel that the week was that well set up...

Nor I, and I thought it was very disappointing how little chamber music was played. It was good to hear the curious Bagatelles, which was new to me, but this was a decade during which Dvorak composed a number of string quartets, his first piano quartet, the string sextet as well as the second string quintet (which was played). It's in the chamber music that I find Dvorak creates some of his most characteristic compositions, with a fusion of his compositional craft, his melodic gift and use of folk rhythms; rather than repeating some of the Slavonic Dances, which are so familiar, why not provide examples of those chamber works which often have just as Slavonic a quality and may well be unfamiliar to many?

I have recently been listening to an excellent set of the piano quartets, played by members of the Vlach Quartet with Helena Sucharova-Weiser, and have been beguiled by the first quartet which I knew much less well than the second: such a lovely slow variation movement on a B minor theme, and throughout the whole the piano is deployed as an equal partner, not even primus inter pares.

[Serial_Apologist]

Antonin Dvorak - the first Czech composer to achieve international renown? This was Donald's closing remark in announcing next week's fare. Not Bedrich Smetana, then?? And I'm sure thorough Czechers of that great country's deeper past will offer up some more names.

[Bryn]

Antonin Dvorak - the first Czech composer to achieve international renown? This was Donald's closing remark in announcing next week's fare. Not Bedrich Smetana, then?? And I'm sure thorough Czechers of that great country's deeper past will offer up some more names.

Zelenka sprang to mind but there's this: https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/g...ech-composers/

[Serial_Apologist]

Zelenka sprang to mind but there's this: https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/g...ech-composers/

Suk - and ye shall not find.