Classics Explained: Dvorak - Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World' - CD

CD - 1

Antonin Dvořák

An Introduction to … DVORAK Symphony No. 9, "From the New World" (1893)

 

1. A quiet beginning: sorrow, syncopation, and sequence

00:02:38

 

2. Instrumental colour as a prime element: clarinets and bassoons, an outburst by the French horn

00:00:57

 

3. The opening tune again, with different instrumental colouring: now flutes and oboes

00:00:32

 

4. The first big surprise: strings, shattering drumbeats, shrieks from flutes, oboes, and clarinets

00:00:37

 

5. Cellos and basses take us into a new key while flutes and oboes dance in syncopation.

00:00:32

 

6. Horns, violas, and cellos introduce a new idea, soon to evolve into the main theme.

00:00:31

 

7. A tiny detail from the opening culminates in a wild drumming that heralds A Major event

00:00:43

 

8. Introduction complete

00:02:05

 

9. A solo horn introduces the main theme, perkily answered by bassoons and horns.

00:00:39

 

10. The theme moves to G Major; answering phrase from flutes, oboes, bassoons.

00:00:33

 

11. Long crescendo, tremolo strings, back to tonic and biggest statement yet of the main theme.

00:00:39

 

12. Transition to the secondary theme through the use of sequence. Sonata form; satability and flux

00:01:36

 

13. Three-bar groupings and again the use of sequence, spelling out a chord

00:00:34

 

14. The sequence continues to rise, and the four-bar phrase returns as the standard unit.

00:00:18

 

15. The first violins start off the next phrase, but the melodic shape is more compact.

00:00:21

 

16. The violins fall silent; the violas and cellos answer with a new figure

00:00:09

 

17. So now we have a two-bar group, made up of statement and answer.

00:00:07

 

18. The same thing again (though not quite the same)

00:00:05

 

19. Transition complete. The secondary theme arrives, with French horns as 'bagpipes'.

00:01:00

 

20. The 'bagpipe drone' is taken over by cellos, with their insistently repeated G and D.

00:00:19

 

21. The tune is taken up by cellos and double-basses, 'shadowed' by the second violins.

00:00:57

 

22. The violins continue a pattern of steady pairs, and the cellos and basses introduce a new idea.

00:00:33

 

23. Unexpectedly, we find ourselves back with the secondary theme. A new idea emerges.

00:00:26

 

24. Again we hear the shortened version of the secondary theme

00:00:33

 

25. The suspense is heightened as everything slows down

00:00:25

 

26. This beautiful flute tune is said to resemble 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'.

00:00:47

 

27. A big crescendo leads to a final statement of the closing theme

00:01:16

 

28. The development section begins with a conversation between cellos, double-bases, and violins.

00:01:09

 

29. The beginning of the closing theme is taken up in turn by the horn, piccolo, and trumpet.

00:00:18

 

30. Sequential chirping from the oboes based on the 'answering' part of the main theme, now in thE Major

00:00:18

 

31. Much of the development comes from a diminution of the closing theme from the exposition.

00:00:19

 

32. A tiny detail becomes A Major ingredient, giving an agitated quality to an originally sunny tune.

00:00:31

 

33. Through a sequence of keys so quickly that it is hard to keep track of them

00:00:37

 

34. The main theme from massed cellos and double-basses, topped by two trumpets over tremolo violas

00:01:46

 

35. After that major climax, we arrive at the threshold of the recapitulation

00:01:04

 

36. Dvorak flouts tradition by setting the secondary theme and the closing theme in unexpected keys.

00:01:10

 

37. The tumultuous convulsion of the coda brings the first movement to its epic close.

00:03:09

 

38. Humpty Dumpty: putting the bits back together again

00:00:20

 

39. First movement (complete)

00:11:36

 

40. The very opening chords unmistakably herald the arrival of something special.

00:01:06

 

41. The role of instrumentation in setting the scene...

00:01:10

 

42. ...and in enhancing the quality of one of the most famous tunes in symphonic history.

00:01:29

 

43. The cor anglais is joined by the clarinet, creating a fascinating change in the timbre.

00:01:08

 

44. For the closing part of the tune, there is another new sonority: cor anglais plus bassoon.

00:00:24

 

45. The closing bar is repeated by clarinets and bassoons, the horn adding a new touch

00:00:28

 

46. Back to the start to hear the whole of the story so far, this time without commentary

00:02:24

 

47. A change of scoring: the slow opening chords return, this time played by the winds alone.

00:01:14

 

48. The changes in scoring are just beginning.

00:02:35

 

49. The flutes and oboes introduce a new tune, over hushed tremolo strings.

00:01:05

 

50. A memorable combination of continuous, asymmetrical melody with steady, march-like counterpoint.

00:01:28

 

51. Back in that woodland glade, the light and shadows have changed, revealing new shapes and patterns.

00:01:33

 

52. The next section is new and forward-looking, yet also a kind of dream-recollection of a past scene.

00:01:30

 

53. An abrupt change of mood, much discussion and embellishment, and a hushed note of expectancy

00:02:01

 

54. Subjectivity and expertise; Sourek and Tovey disagree; onwards, into the final section

00:05:14

 

55. Cue to whole movement

00:00:10

 

56. Second movement (complete)

00:12:00

CD - 2

Antonin Dvořák

An Introduction to … DVORAK Symphony No. 9, "From the New World" (1893)

 

1. Dvorak, Beethoven, and the Scherzo. Dvorak purposely confuses the listener's expectations.

00:01:54

 

2. Using a little fanfare, Dvorak further builds up expectation before revealing the main theme.

00:00:21

 

3. When the theme is revealed, we find that it is not exactly a tune.

00:00:36

 

4. Two little bursts of rhythm provide the seeds from which much of the movement grows.

00:00:24

 

5. It is the second half of the theme that dominates.

00:00:22

 

6. Back to the beginning to hear the whole of this opening section

00:00:48

 

7. Without ever being remotely 'academic' or 'intellectual', there is much counterpoint going on here.

00:00:20

 

8. Dvorak's very Czech love of combining conflicting rhythms, sometimes metres

00:02:31

 

9. A clearly transitional passage, obsessed with the rhythmic tag that both opens and closes the theme

00:00:30

 

10. Sooner than we may have expected, we seem to have arrived at the Trio section.

00:01:07

 

11. A new kind of tone quality sheds a subtly different light on the theme.

00:00:35

 

12. The flutes and oboes now chime in with an answering variant of the opening...

00:00:21

 

13. ...and the cellos and bassoons take up the original version of the theme.

00:00:43

 

14. A false alarm: it was not the traditional Trio section at all, but rather part 2 of Scherzo proper

00:00:52

 

15. Soon, after a very rapid build, the Scherzo proper does reach its final phase.

00:01:13

 

16. The orchestral texture thins dramatically, and we approach what this time really is the Trio section.

00:01:28

 

17. The Trio section is reminiscent more of the 'Old World' than the 'New'.

00:00:50

 

18. In the second half of the Trio, a new tune emerges, a kind of Slavonic waltz.

00:01:00

 

19. The main theme of the Trio returns against a much fuller orchestral background.

00:00:36

 

20. Then it is all a matter of repeats, until we reach the coda, which ends with an explosive bang.

00:01:15

 

21. Third movement (complete)

00:08:07

 

22. Like the first movement, the fourth begins not with its main theme but with an introduction.

00:00:47

 

23. The main theme: an imposing march, introduced by trumpets and trombones, with timpani

00:00:48

 

24. The main theme, part two. A codetta-like passage closes off the march

00:01:01

 

25. The 'transitional' theme, while outwardly contrasting, is actually a hidden variant of the march.

00:00:53

 

26. A point of future obsession

00:00:16

 

27. The second half of this 'transitional' theme is given to the winds the strings have finished.

00:00:16

 

28. The 'obsession' takes root, with a ten-fold repetition, before the arrival of the second subject.

00:00:57

 

29. The hidden traps in sonata-form terminology: 'second main theme' vx. 'second subject'

00:02:31

 

30. The unexpected entry and subsequent ubiquity of 'Three Blind Mice'

00:01:23

 

31. We meet the mice again, now in the cellos and double-basses, where they persistently refuse to run.

00:00:36

 

32. More 'Three Blind Mice' material

00:00:30

 

33. The mice return to the basement, where the bassoons have joined the cellos and double-basses.

00:00:19

 

34. Next, they are back with the clarinets who pass them back to the cellos

00:00:18

 

35. Now they return to the high winds, delicately trilling.

00:00:15

 

36. Relief, at last: the mice back off, making way for a remainder of the main theme from the trumpets.

00:00:34

 

37. The mice yield to woodpeckers; the main theme is now doubled in speed

00:01:07

 

38. The triplets of the 'transitional' theme are now handed down through strings

00:00:23

 

39. Reminders of past movements begin to fly by, thick and fast, sometimes very fast.

00:00:28

 

40. In fact there are three bits of quotation going on here simultaneously.

00:00:23

 

41. The violas react every time the 'Goin' Home' theme is quoted by the winds.

00:00:35

 

42. The rhythm of the opening of the 'Goin' Home' theme dominates, transformed by trumpets

00:00:35

 

43. The march theme reappears as a Mendelssohnian fairy; the main theme from the 1st mov. now returns.

00:01:55

 

44. We reach an interesting point: have we heard the beginning of the recapitulation, or not?

00:01:05

 

45. Perhaps this is it? Back for a reminder of the theme proper, as we first heard it

00:01:41

 

46. Tovey places the start of the recapitulation here.

00:01:27

 

47. The main theme recast in pathetic rather than heroic terms - and with magical scoring

00:01:51

 

48. This unexpected crisis in confidence plays A Major role in the overall dramatic impact of the mov.

00:01:49

 

49. The main theme returns - not complete, but chopped up into shorter and shorter fragments.

00:01:30

 

50. A glorious thematic stew; high drama, a powerful build-up... but then?

00:00:56

 

51. The dramatic highpoint of the mov., an astonishing transformation, but first, back to the original

00:01:26

 

52. The same chords again, this time blasted out by the entire wind and brass sections

00:01:09

 

53. Now we are into the finishing stretch, but the surprises continue to the very end of the very end.

00:01:42

 

54. Summary, context, and cue into the whole movement

00:01:05

 

55. Fourth movement (complete)

00:11:05