DVO COMPLETE

SYMPHONIES

ŘÁK Staatskapelle Berlin

Otmar Suitner

TESSENZA · QUINAESENCIA · QUINTESSÊNCIA · QUINTESSENCE · QUINTESSENZ · QUINTESSENZA · QUINAESEN

Antonín Dvořák 1841-1907
Complete Symphonies

Symphony No.1 in C minor (1865) Symphony No.4 in D minor Op.13 Symphony No.7 in D minor Op.70 Symphony No.9 in E minor Op.95
‘The Bells of Zlonice’ 12 I. Allegro 10’39 24 I. Allegro maestoso 10’45 ‘From the New World’
1 I. Maestoso – Allegro 13’ 18 13 II. Andante sostenuto e molto 25 II. Poco adagio 9’00 32 I. Adagio – Allegro molto 11’46
2 II. Adagio di molto 10’47 cantabile 12’56 26 III. Scherzo: Vivace 7’39 33 II. Largo 11’25
3 III. Allegretto 8’09 14 III. Scherzo: Allegro feroce 6’19 27 IV. Finale: Allegro 9’22 34 III. Scherzo: Molto vivace 7’55
4 IV. Finale: Allegro animato 10’53 15 IV. Finale: Allegro con brio 8’37 35 IV. Allegro con fuoco 10’49
Symphony No.8 in G Op.88
Symphony No.2 in B flat Op.4 Symphony No.5 in F Op.76 28 I. Allegro con brio 9’23
5 I. Allegro con moto 12’12 16 I. Allegro, ma non troppo 9’12 29 II. Adagio 10’01
6 II. Poco adagio 11’20 17 II. Andante con moto 7’01 30 III. Allegretto grazioso 6’39
7 III. Scherzo: Allegro con brio 11’53 18 III. Scherzo: Allegro 31 IV. Allegro ma non troppo 10’13
8 IV. Finale: Allegro con fuoco scherzando 8’14
(alla breve) 9’56 19 IV. Finale: Allegro molto 12’14

Symphony No.3 in E flat Op.10 Symphony No.6 in D Op.60

9 I. Allegro moderato 9’52 20 I. Allegro non tanto 12’43
Staatskapelle Berlin
10 II. Adagio molto, tempo 21 II. Adagio 10’12
Otmar Suitner conductor
di marcia 14’03 22 III. Scherzo (Furiant): Presto 8’25
11 II. Finale: Allegro vivace 8’11 23 IV. Finale: Allegro con spirito 9’55

Recording: 1979 (tracks 9-11, tracks 16-19); 1981 (tracks 1-4);

1982 (tracks 5-8, tracks 12-15, tracks 20-23, tracks 28-31);
1983 (tracks 24-27, tracks 32-35)
- 1979, 1981, 1982 & 1983 VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin
Cover: Shutterstock/David Kasza
© 2019 Brilliant Classics
Licensed from Edel Germany GmbH
Antonín Dvořák his musical education – a reason why some now refer to the piece as ‘The Bells of
Zlonice’. Material from the symphony was used again in his song cycle, Cypresses,
The Nine Symphonies and in a set of piano compositions, Silhouettes. For reasons unknown the score found
The symphonies of Antonín Dvořák have never been as popular and beloved as the its way into a second-hand music shop in Leipzig, where it was discovered by accident
symphonies of Brahms and Beethoven. Matters of taste play a part, but other motives by Rudolf Dvořák (no relation). After Rudolf’s death the music was found by his son,
are just as important. Indeed, some of the works were not performed or published who arranged its publication. The first performance took place in 1936.
during the composer’s lifetime, and since they weren’t published in the order in which Although in later years Dvořák regarded his First Symphony as an experiment,
they were written, there was for many years some confusion as to the precise nature some of the hallmarks of his symphonic personality are already present in this
of Dvořák’s development. Matters of style are just as important: Dvořák was a great piece. He liked writing beautiful melodies embedded within harmonic patterns
admirer of Beethoven, but he liked his older colleague for his mastery of form, not not far removed from those used by Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn; he is,
for his revolutionary zeal. Unlike Beethoven, therefore, Dvořák was no innovator as in fact, more a lyric than a dramatic composer, creating long episodes based on a
far as instrumentation was concerned, and he was much more susceptible to elements few melodies and many repetitions. Although he respects the established order of
from his Czech national style. Besides, Dvořák was a very pragmatic musician and sonata form (exposition, development and recapitulation), the caesuras between
definitely not the archetypical Romantic, solitary artist writing music in a cold room, these episodes are less rigid than in older symphonies, which give this and his later
hoping an unknown listener would overhear and like it. He had an audience in mind, symphonies a sense of fluidity and mellowness. In the second movement we hear a
but he didn’t want to change his style just to please his local listeners. motif possibly inspired by the Tarnhelm one in Wagner’s Das Rheingold, but, as with
Dvořák trained as an organ player, worked in Prague in a church, and played the other influences, it doesn’t feel like a foreign element, since Dvořák changes Wagner’s
violin and viola in an orchestra in the same city. Although one of the big events in melody into one of his own.
his musical life was a concert in Prague in 1863, in which Wagner conducted some The third movement, Scherzo, clearly demonstrates Dvořák’s approach to classical
of his own pieces (with Dvořák playing in the orchestra), the intense confrontation forms. The beginning is scherzo-like, especially in the rhythm, but the form is far
with this German composer hardly left a big impression on Dvořák’s music, which from ‘official’ and spliced into sections, mainly because the melodies and lyrical
was able to assimilate many other influences besides just Wagner’s. When Dvořák’s development dominate this movement. The brass sections in the finale emphasise the
work eventually achieved popularity, it was not because he made concessions. He optimistic ending of the symphony, which was standard practice from Haydn until
did change his style over the years, but he was not modest about his abilities, and he Bruckner.
didn’t respond well to bad reviews. Just like the First, the Second Symphony was written as an experiment and not
The First Symphony has a complex history. Written on the composer’s own as a commission. Dvořák composed it in the same year as the First (1865) and did
initiative and submitted for a competition, the work proved unsuccessful and Dvořák not see it published during his lifetime, though he was able to hear the work once
temporarily forgot about it. In later years he referred back to it, connecting the (1888) – an occasion for which it was revised and made shorter. A few seeming
composition with the bells in the Czech town of Zlonice, where Dvořák obtained allusions to the music of Tchaikovsky have caused some people to suggest that
Dvořák might have been influenced by this composer, but this seems unlikely, since case with Dvořák’s music, new themes are derived from old themes on which new
in 1865 Tchaikovsky was still hardly known inside Russia, let alone outside Russia. variations are built. This remarkable continuity may also explain the absence in this
Another possible source of inspiration is the music of Brahms: both composers share symphony of a scherzo, a form strongly dependent on clear, articulated rhythms. The
a love for grace, a broad-minded dealing with motifs in the development section and theme of the final movement looks like a bohemian version of Frère Jacques, with
a beautiful balance between strings and winds. The great climaxes in the finale, too, some allusions to Tannhäuser and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. This Wagnerian
betray the influence of Wagner’s style of instrumentation; also in his opera Rusalka influence is no surprise: Dvořák often visited the German theatre in Prague where
would Dvořák use brass to emphasise big dramatic effects. In one sense the Second Wagner’s music was frequently performed. He would only borrow other music if he
Symphony does repeat the First: Dvořák likes, following the example of Schubert, to could integrate it into his own, however; unlike many other musicians at the time, he
write beautiful melodies and to develop them over a long period of time in such a way could live with both Brahms and Wagner, but only on his own terms.
that the borders between the episodes get blurred. The Adagio, for example, has three The Fourth Symphony was composed in 1873–74 and premiered many years
sections but sounds as one continuous line. The Scherzo, furthermore, lacks a clear later, in 1892 in Prague with the composer as the conductor. In a sense the Fourth
rhythmic impulse – not surprising for a composer who, like Brahms, weakens the is a continuation of the Third: once again Dvořák likes to build a big form through
clear distinctions between the genres. almost endless repetitions as an alternative to development, a technique which places
After his first couple of attempts, Dvořák gave the symphony a rest of nine years. him closer to Schubert than to Beethoven. He admired the latter for his sense of
His Third was written in 1874 and immediately premiered in Prague by an orchestra proportions, but within these proportions his elements are much more fluid. Like
conducted by Smetana. The work received favourable reviews and Brahms wrote Beethoven, Dvořák likes to differentiate between a first and a second theme – in the
enthusiastically about the beautiful melodies (‘It is pure love, and it does one’s heart first movement of the Fourth, for example, the first theme is broad and the second
good!’), but in spite of its successful premiere, the symphony’s publication had to wait more lyrical. The second movement shows, too, both his admiration for and his
until 1912. As seen in the previous two works, Dvořák’s genius for melodic invention independence from Wagner: the main theme has often been compared to Wagner’s
strengthened his wish to create forms without clear sections; the first movement, Tannhäuser, but Dvořák transforms it in such a way that the source is difficult to
therefore, is a combination of sonata form and rondo form, and it contains a melody recognise. The third movement is a kind of scherzo, the music of which Dvořák might
the composer would use again in his opera The King and the Charcoal Burner. This have taken from that of a village band. Dvořák knew this kind of music very well,
new application of mixing one genre with another is further evidence of Dvořák’s since he came from a small town in which street music played a big role. The often-
desire to blur the distinctions between genres. made comparison between the finale and one of Bruckner’s symphonies fails to take
Like the First and Second Symphonies, the Third is a predominantly lyrical piece. into account how, probably at the time, Dvořák was not aware of Bruckner’s music.
Dvořák’s main examples were, not surprisingly, Schumann’s ‘Rhenish’ Symphony The finale has a grandeur that contrasts with the uncomplicated, simple expression of
and Mendelssohn’s Die schöne Melusine, whose influence can be detected in the the first three movements. Nobility and unaffectedness were always characteristics of
long, beautiful lines and the inconspicuous harmonic changes. The slow movement, Dvořák’s music, and the symphonic form did not inspire him to create grandiose, let
a funeral march in C minor, is cast as a theme with variations, and, as is so often the alone pompous, emotional outbursts. From Wagner’s music he occasionally borrowed
melodic style, but not the urge to impose. spontaneous composer, and his unsystematic attitude would have certainly helped him
Although the Fifth came only one year after the Fourth, the contrast is striking. a lot when the symphony was presented in Vienna – where the local, liberal audience
Many regard it as his first mature symphony and look in vain for a reason for this rejected German political influence, and where composers seeking inspiration in
unexpected change. What we can be certain about is the fact that this symphony non–German music thus benefitted. Besides, the Fifth Symphony was admired for
brought the composer recognition from both a wide audience and the specialist its resemblance to the music of the Viennese citizen Johannes Brahms, who saw the
listener. Soon after completion of the Fifth, Dvořák received praise from Brahms as score before its publication and was particularly taken with the main theme in the
well as the Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick, resulting in the work’s publication first movement. The third movement is a Furiant, a Czech dance, rather furious in
by the Viennese printer Simrock. Many people have connected the pastoral mood of character. The rhythm is very pronounced throughout the piece, not atypical of a
Brahms’ Second Symphony with the first and second movements of Dvořák’s Fifth. Furiant but nevertheless unusual for Dvořák: unlike most of the previous scherzos,
Equally similar are the style of the orchestration and the treatment of the winds this one is lacking in mellowness. The finale shows again the influence of Brahms in
as a mellow addition to the sound of the strings. The oboe melody in the second the mixture of sonata and rondo form. Unlike previous finales, Dvořák demonstrates
movement might indeed have been written by Brahms, but the forms in Brahms’s his ability to gradually build up the music over an extended period of time, thus
works are much more articulated and much less continuous. By contrast the Scherzo preparing for the climax that occurs many bars later.
is highly classical in nature – not just with melodies less complicated than those in The Seventh Symphony was written for the London Philharmonic Society and
Brahms’s scherzos, but, unusually for Dvořák, with clear borders demarcating the received its premiere in London in 1885 with the composer as conductor. Dvořák was
episodes. These clear distinctions between the episodes, on the other hand, are entirely proud of his achievement, not least because he observed that his style was continuing
absent in the finale – which, as it approaches its end, recalls one of the themes from to please growing audiences. In the Seventh, and much more in the Eighth and the
the opening movement, thus giving rise to the fanfare-laden conclusion. All in all, Ninth, rhythmic energy becomes an essential characteristic (the third movement is a
the Fifth Symphony, more than any of the others, betrays the influence of Dvořák’s bohemian scherzo with spiky rhythmic accents). The almost unending repetition of
chamber music, in which dramatic impulse is subsidiary to melody. motifs has also disappeared, being replaced by a great variety of motifs and many
If the Fifth was a turning point in terms of stylistic maturity, the Sixth was Dvořák’s sudden harmonic changes. Dvořák didn’t care much for the proportions between the
first symphony to receive widespread attention and positive reviews. The work was movements here; the slow movement is the longest in the cycle, even after the cuts he
written at the request of the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic, Hans Richter, made after the premiere. The most arresting feature of the Seventh is its abundance
although the premiere took place in Prague in 1881 (it was Dvořák’s first symphony of beautiful melodies, with the movements as a whole sounding extremely balanced.
to be performed outside his native country). What found approval with listeners The finale, in particular, deserves mention for its preparation of the climax. Indeed, in
at the time was the fact that Dvořák devoted more attention to dramatic moments order to make the last movement more monumental, Dvořák incorporates elements
in clear structures and that he partially left behind his old habit of creating forms from a Protestant chorale. Many Romantic composers tried to give their music more
through melodic and motivic repetition. This sounds like a conscious decision on the depth by borrowing from old religious music.
composer’s part, although it is highly unlikely that it was; Dvořák was, after all, a Dvořák’s individual approach to classical form also applies to his Eighth Symphony,
which he presented to the University of Cambridge after receiving an honorary undoubtedly looked on the symphony as partly American, since the famous subtitle
doctorate. Although the work premiered in England, the composer did not consider it ‘From the New World’ was in fact his idea. The relationship between the ‘American’
a concession to British taste: ‘I wanted to write a work with individual ideas worked and the ‘European’ elements in the work, however, remains a matter of controversy.
out in a new way.’ Some observers at the time believed Dvořák had taken as his model Certainly Dvořák continued his ‘spontaneous’ approach to form through the creation
Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony – he was, after all, present at its Prague premiere on of countless beautiful melodies, but the music is somewhat more complicated that
30 November 1888 (which Tchaikovsky himself conducted), and shortly afterwards this: themes return in different contexts, and tempo and key changes within one
began work on the Eighth. If the Russian had any influence on the Czech, however, it movement have a strong dramatic function. At the very end, too, there is a coda that
is most likely to be in the third movement, which has a light, waltz-like character. (It comprises all the themes of the previous movements.
interesting to note that Tchaikovsky was also accused, especially by German authors, Understandably the debate about the ‘American’ nature of the symphony was more
of writing formless music.) An essential characteristic of the first movement is the intense in America than it was in Europe. One of Dvořák’s American pupils, Rubin
frequent change between major and minor key. Instruments like the horn and viola Goldmark, became the teacher of Aaron Copland who later, together with Charles
are also given a far more prominent role than usual. A set of variations in the finale, Ives, became one of the two fathers of American music. It remains to say that, no
too, was nothing novel at the time, but here Dvořák introduces changes in tempo matter how ‘American’ or ‘European’ the Ninth Symphony is, Dvořák knew how
(not heard in his earlier symphonies), a Slavonic melodic style (again, the influence of to write music with great rhythmic vitality – and it was this vitality than garnered
Tchaikovsky?) and operatic style (the flute melody in the third movement resembles a appreciation from both sides of the Atlantic.
melody from his opera The Stubborn Lovers). © Emanuel Overbeeke
Although Dvořák’s fame had been steadily growing since Brahms’s and Hanslick’s
recommendations, the success of his Ninth Symphony – which followed immediately
after the first performance (in Carnegie Hall in December 1893) – exceeded all
expectations. Dvořák, who always worked with an audience in mind, was by this
time director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. After his arrival
in the city (1892), he had tried to get the Americans to become more interested in
their own folk music and was pleased when a student of his, Henry Thacker Burleigh,
himself a son of free slaves, showed him a collection of transcriptions of melodies
by Native Americans. Dvořák used Burleigh’s collection when he was asked to
write a symphony, and although it is highly unlikely that Dvořák ever heard Native
Americans in the flesh, his symphony clearly shows the influence of their music.
Many have regarded Dvořák’s attempt in the Ninth Symphony to integrate folk
music into art music as an American version of the Czech music he wrote. Dvořák