Classics Explained: DVORAK - Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World'
An exploration of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 narrated by Jeremy Siepmann
Jeremy Siepmann (reader), Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Classics Explained: DVORAK - Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World'
An exploration of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 narrated by Jeremy Siepmann
Jeremy Siepmann (reader), Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
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Contents and tracklist
Instrumental colour as a prime element: clarinets and bassoons, an outburst by the French horn
Track length0:57
The first big surprise: strings, shattering drumbeats, shrieks from flutes, oboes, and clarinets
Track length0:37
Cellos and basses take us into a new key while flutes and oboes dance in syncopation.
Track length0:32
A tiny detail from the opening culminates in a wild drumming that heralds a major event
Track length0:43
Long crescendo, tremolo strings, back to tonic and biggest statement yet of the main theme.
Track length0:39
Transition to the secondary theme through the use of sequence. Sonata form; satability and flux
Track length1:36
The sequence continues to rise, and the four-bar phrase returns as the standard unit.
Track length0:18
The 'bagpipe drone' is taken over by cellos, with their insistently repeated G and D.
Track length0:19
The violins continue a pattern of steady pairs, and the cellos and basses introduce a new idea.
Track length0:33
The development section begins with a conversation between cellos, double-bases, and violins.
Track length1:09
The beginning of the closing theme is taken up in turn by the horn, piccolo, and trumpet.
Track length0:18
Sequential chirping from the oboes based on the 'answering' part of the main theme, now in the major
Track length0:18
Much of the development comes from a diminution of the closing theme from the exposition.
Track length0:19
A tiny detail becomes a major ingredient, giving an agitated quality to an originally sunny tune.
Track length0:31
The main theme from massed cellos and double-basses, topped by two trumpets over tremolo violas
Track length1:46
Dvorak flouts tradition by setting the secondary theme and the closing theme in unexpected keys.
Track length1:10
...and in enhancing the quality of one of the most famous tunes in symphonic history.
Track length1:29
The cor anglais is joined by the clarinet, creating a fascinating change in the timbre.
Track length1:08
For the closing part of the tune, there is another new sonority: cor anglais plus bassoon.
Track length0:24
Back to the start to hear the whole of the story so far, this time without commentary
Track length2:24
A change of scoring: the slow opening chords return, this time played by the winds alone.
Track length1:14
A memorable combination of continuous, asymmetrical melody with steady, march-like counterpoint.
Track length1:28
Back in that woodland glade, the light and shadows have changed, revealing new shapes and patterns.
Track length1:33
The next section is new and forward-looking, yet also a kind of dream-recollection of a past scene.
Track length1:30
An abrupt change of mood, much discussion and embellishment, and a hushed note of expectancy
Track length2:01
Subjectivity and expertise; Sourek and Tovey disagree; onwards, into the final section
Track length5:14
Dvorak, Beethoven, and the Scherzo. Dvorak purposely confuses the listener's expectations.
Track length1:54
Using a little fanfare, Dvorak further builds up expectation before revealing the main theme.
Track length0:21
Two little bursts of rhythm provide the seeds from which much of the movement grows.
Track length0:24
Without ever being remotely 'academic' or 'intellectual', there is much counterpoint going on here.
Track length0:20
A clearly transitional passage, obsessed with the rhythmic tag that both opens and closes the theme
Track length0:30
A false alarm: it was not the traditional Trio section at all, but rather part 2 of Scherzo proper
Track length0:52
The orchestral texture thins dramatically, and we approach what this time really is the Trio section.
Track length1:28
Then it is all a matter of repeats, until we reach the coda, which ends with an explosive bang.
Track length1:15
Like the first movement, the fourth begins not with its main theme but with an introduction.
Track length0:47
The main theme: an imposing march, introduced by trumpets and trombones, with timpani
Track length0:48
The 'transitional' theme, while outwardly contrasting, is actually a hidden variant of the march.
Track length0:53
The second half of this 'transitional' theme is given to the winds the strings have finished.
Track length0:16
The 'obsession' takes root, with a ten-fold repetition, before the arrival of the second subject.
Track length0:57
The hidden traps in sonata-form terminology: 'second main theme' vx. 'second subject'
Track length2:31
We meet the mice again, now in the cellos and double-basses, where they persistently refuse to run.
Track length0:36
The mice return to the basement, where the bassoons have joined the cellos and double-basses.
Track length0:19
Relief, at last: the mice back off, making way for a remainder of the main theme from the trumpets.
Track length0:34
The rhythm of the opening of the 'Goin' Home' theme dominates, transformed by trumpets
Track length0:35
The march theme reappears as a Mendelssohnian fairy; the main theme from the 1st mov. now returns.
Track length1:55
We reach an interesting point: have we heard the beginning of the recapitulation, or not?
Track length1:05
The main theme recast in pathetic rather than heroic terms - and with magical scoring
Track length1:51
This unexpected crisis in confidence plays a major role in the overall dramatic impact of the mov.
Track length1:49
The main theme returns - not complete, but chopped up into shorter and shorter fragments.
Track length1:30
The dramatic highpoint of the mov., an astonishing transformation, but first, back to the original
Track length1:26
Now we are into the finishing stretch, but the surprises continue to the very end of the very end.
Track length1:42
