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| An Introduction to... DVORAK Symphony No. 9 'From | |
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A quiet beginning: sorrow, syncopation, and sequen |
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Instrumental colour as a prime element: clarinets |
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The opening tune again, with different instrumenta |
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The first big surprise: strings, shattering drumbe |
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Cellos and basses take us into a new key while flu |
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Horns, violas, and cellos introduce a new idea, so |
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A tiny detail from the opening culminates in a wil |
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Introduction complete |
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A solo horn introduces the main theme, perkily ans |
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The theme moves to G major; answering phrase from |
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Long crescendo, tremolo strings, back to tonic and |
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Transition to the secondary theme through the use |
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Three-bar groupings and again the use of sequence, |
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The sequence continues to rise, and the four-bar p |
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The first violins start off the next phrase, but t |
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The violins fall silent; the violas and cellos ans |
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So now we have a two-bar group, made up of stateme |
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The same thing again (though not quite the same) |
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Transition complete. The secondary theme arrives, |
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The 'bagpipe drone' is taken over by cellos, with |
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The tune is taken up by cellos and double-basses, |
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The violins continue a pattern of steady pairs, an |
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Unexpectedly, we find ourselves back with the seco |
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Again we hear the shortened version of the seconda |
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The suspense is heightened as everything slows dow |
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This beautiful flute tune is said to resemble 'Swi |
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A big crescendo leads to a final statement of the |
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The development section begins with a conversation |
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The beginning of the closing theme is taken up in |
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Sequential chirping from the oboes based on the 'a |
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Much of the development comes from a diminution of |
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A tiny detail becomes a major ingredient, giving a |
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Through a sequence of keys so quickly that it is h |
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The main theme from massed cellos and double-basse |
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After that major climax, we arrive at the threshol |
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Dvorak flouts tradition by setting the secondary t |
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The tumultuous convulsion of the coda brings the f |
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Humpty Dumpty: putting the bits back together agai |
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First movement (complete) |
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The very opening chords unmistakably herald the ar |
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The role of instrumentation in setting the scene.. |
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...and in enhancing the quality of one of the most |
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The cor anglais is joined by the clarinet, creatin |
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For the closing part of the tune, there is another |
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The closing bar is repeated by clarinets and basso |
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Back to the start to hear the whole of the story s |
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A change of scoring: the slow opening chords retur |
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The changes in scoring are just beginning. |
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The flutes and oboes introduce a new tune, over hu |
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A memorable combination of continuous, asymmetrica |
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Back in that woodland glade, the light and shadows |
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The next section is new and forward-looking, yet a |
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An abrupt change of mood, much discussion and embe |
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Subjectivity and expertise; Sourek and Tovey disag |
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Cue to whole movement |
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Second movement (complete) |
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| Disc: 2 |
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| An Introduction to... DVORAK Symphony No. 9 'From | |
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Dvorak, Beethoven, and the Scherzo. Dvorak purpose |
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Using a little fanfare, Dvorak further builds up e |
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When the theme is revealed, we find that it is not |
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Two little bursts of rhythm provide the seeds from |
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It is the second half of the theme that dominates. |
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Back to the beginning to hear the whole of this op |
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Without ever being remotely 'academic' or 'intelle |
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Dvorak's very Czech love of combining conflicting |
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A clearly transitional passage, obsessed with the |
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Sooner than we may have expected, we seem to have |
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A new kind of tone quality sheds a subtly differen |
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The flutes and oboes now chime in with an answerin |
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...and the cellos and bassoons take up the origina |
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A false alarm: it was not the traditional Trio sec |
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Soon, after a very rapid build, the Scherzo proper |
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The orchestral texture thins dramatically, and we |
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The Trio section is reminiscent more of the 'Old W |
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In the second half of the Trio, a new tune emerges |
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The main theme of the Trio returns against a much |
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Then it is all a matter of repeats, until we reach |
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Third movement (complete) |
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Like the first movement, the fourth begins not wit |
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The main theme: an imposing march, introduced by t |
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The main theme, part two. A codetta-like passage c |
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The 'transitional' theme, while outwardly contrast |
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A point of future obsession |
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The second half of this 'transitional' theme is gi |
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The 'obsession' takes root, with a ten-fold repeti |
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The hidden traps in sonata-form terminology: 'seco |
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The unexpected entry and subsequent ubiquity of 'T |
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We meet the mice again, now in the cellos and doub |
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More 'Three Blind Mice' material |
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The mice return to the basement, where the bassoon |
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Next, they are back with the clarinets who pass th |
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Now they return to the high winds, delicately tril |
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Relief, at last: the mice back off, making way for |
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The mice yield to woodpeckers; the main theme is n |
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The triplets of the 'transitional' theme are now h |
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Reminders of past movements begin to fly by, thick |
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In fact there are three bits of quotation going on |
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The violas react every time the 'Goin' Home' theme |
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The rhythm of the opening of the 'Goin' Home' them |
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The march theme reappears as a Mendelssohnian fair |
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We reach an interesting point: have we heard the b |
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Perhaps this is it? Back for a reminder of the the |
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Tovey places the start of the recapitulation here. |
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The main theme recast in pathetic rather than hero |
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This unexpected crisis in confidence plays a major |
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The main theme returns - not complete, but chopped |
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A glorious thematic stew; high drama, a powerful b |
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The dramatic highpoint of the mov., an astonishing |
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The same chords again, this time blasted out by th |
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Now we are into the finishing stretch, but the sur |
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Summary, context, and cue into the whole movement |
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Fourth movement (complete) |
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