Release Date: 06 January 2000
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943430927
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: DVORAK
Description
Antonin Dvoř?ák(1841-1904)Piano Trio in B flatmajor, Op. 21Piano Trio in G minor,Op. 26Antonin Dvoř?ák was born in 1841, theson of a butcher and innkeeper in the village of Nelahozeves, near Kralupy, inBohemia, and some forty miles north of Prague. It was natural that he should atfirst have been expected to follow the family trade, as the eldest son. Hismusical abilities, however, soon became apparent and were encouraged by hisfather, who in later years abandoned his original trade, to earn something of aliving as a zither player. After primary schooling he was sent to lodge with anuncle in Zlonice and was there able to acquire the necessary knowledge ofGerman and improve his abilities as a musician, hitherto acquired at home inthe village band and in church. Further study of German and of music atKamenice, a town in northern Bohemia, led to his admission in 1857 to thePrague Organ School, where he studied for the following two years.On leaving the Organ School, Dvoř?ák earnedhis living as a viola-player in a band under the direction of Karel Komzak, anensemble that was to form the nucleus of the Czech Provisional TheatreOrchestra, established in 1862. Four years later Smetana was appointedconductor at the theatre, where his operas The Brandenbnrgers in Bahemia andThe Bartered Bride had already been performed. It was not until 1871that Dvoř?ák resigned from theorchestra, devoting himself more fully to composition, as his music began toattract favourable local attention. In 1873 he married a singer from the chorusof the theatre and in 1874 became organist of the church of St Adalbert. Duringthis period he continued to support himself by private teaching, while busy ona series of compositions that gradually became known to a wider circle.Further recognition came to Dvoř?ákin 1874,when his application for an Austrian government award brought his music to theattention of Brahms and the critic Eduard Hanslick in Vienna. The granting ofthis award for five consecutive years was of material assistance. It wasthrough this contact that, impressed by Dvoř?ák's Moravian Duets entered for the award of 1877, Brahms was ableto arrange for their publication by Simrock, who commissioned a further work, SlavonicDances, for piano duet. The success of these publications introduced Dvoř?ák's music to a much wider public, for which itheld some exotic appeal. As his reputation grew, there were visits to Germanyand to England, where he was always received with greater enthusiasm than mightinitially have been accorded a Czech composer in Vienna.In 1883 Dvoř?ák had rejected atempting proposal that he should write a German opera for Vienna. At home hecontinued to contribute to Czech operatic repertoire, an important element inre-establishing national musical identity. The invitation to take up a positionin New York was another matter. In 1891 he had become professor of compositionat Prague Conservatory and in the summer of the same y
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Steen-Nokleberg
Kodaly Quartet
Johanneson/Reykjavik Quintet
