Dvořák: Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9 "From the New World"

In this recording, the orchestra is the Berlin Philharmonic, and the conductor is Rafael Kubelík.

## Dvořák: Symphony No. 8

The Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, B. 163, is a symphony by Antonín Dvořák, composed in 1889 at Vysoká u Příbramě, Bohemia, on the occasion of his election to the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Arts. Dvořák conducted the premiere in Prague on 2 February 1890. In contrast to other symphonies of both the composer and the period, the music is cheerful and optimistic. It was originally published as Symphony No. 4.

### Instrumentation

The piece is scored for the following: 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (1st doubling cor anglais), 2 clarinets (in A and Bb), 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.

### Movements

The movements are named as follows:

1. Allegro con brio
2. Adagio
3. Allegretto grazioso - Molto vivace
4. Allegro, ma non troppo

## Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"

The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 (Czech: Symfonie č. 9 e moll "Z nového světa"), popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It premiered in New York City on 16 December 1893. It has been described as one of the most popular of all symphonies. In older literature and recordings, this symphony was – as for its first publication – numbered as Symphony No. 5. Astronaut Neil Armstrong took a tape recording of the New World Symphony along during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969. The symphony was completed in the building that now houses the Bily Clocks Museum.

### Instrumentation

The piece is scored for the following instruments: 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (one doubling cor anglais), 2 clarinets in Bb and A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in E, C and F, 2 trumpets in E, C and Eb, Alto, Tenor and Bass trombones, Tuba (second movement only), Timpani, Triangle (third movement only), Cymbals (fourth movement only) and Strings

### Movements

The movements are named as follows:

1. Adagio - Allegro molto
2. Largo
3. Scherzo. Molto vivace
4. Allegro con fuoco

### Reception

At the premiere in Carnegie Hall, the end of every movement was met with thunderous clapping and Dvořák felt obliged to stand up and bow. This was one of the greatest public triumphs of Dvořák's career. When the symphony was published, several European orchestras soon performed it. Alexander Mackenzie conducted the London Philharmonic Society in the European premiere on 21 June 1894. Clapham says the symphony became "one of the most popular of all time" and at a time when the composer's main works were being welcomed in no more than ten countries, this symphony reached the rest of the musical world and has become a "universal favorite". It had been performed [as of 1978] more often "than any other symphony at the Royal Festival Hall, London" and is in "tremendous demand in Japan".

## Program Note - An authentic Czech accent

In the late 1960s and early '70s, the Berlin Philharmonic became the first German orchestra to record the complete cycle of Antonín Dvořák's nine symphonies, from the First, composed when he was 23 and which he never heard performed, to the Ninth, "From the New World". An authentic Czech accent was guaranteed by the émigré conductor Rafael Kubelík, born not far from Prague in 1914, and a maestro internationally famed for his impulsive vitality. Unable to return to his homeland, he revisited it in the music of Dvořák, Smetana and Janáček. The sympathy of a compatriot fires what is probably Dvořák's most "modern" score, the Eighth, as well as the powerful Ninth, written when he was the homesick director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York.

There were once large areas of Europe where the Bohemian Symphony was regarded as a provincial art-form in fancy dress. Interpreters like Rafael Kubelík changed that with performances which brought out the substance, individuality and superb craftsmanship of the music. The last two symphonies leave no doubt that, far from being a simple country lad, or in a conservative with his nose in a musical textbook, Dvořák thoroughly understood the problems facing symphonic composition at the end of the 19th century and came up with his own solutions. The Eighth Symphony, with its manifold and exhilarating contrasts, is the realization of Dvořák's wish "to write a work which is different from my other symphonies, with individual ideas worked out in a new way". The writing for the instruments is linear, and there are unexpected solos and chamber-music-like episodes which leaven the texture. The style is lyrical in a way that prefigures Gustav Mahler, an admirer of Dvořák. The Ninth, composed in New York in 1893, became Dvořák's most popular symphony from the word go: an outburst of emotion in four movements. Its subtitle "From the New World", the pentatonic colouring of the melodic lines, the melancholy which pervades the Largo from the cor anglais (English horn) solo in the opening bars, all contributed to the supposition that Dvořák was drawing on the folklore of the American Indians. His answer to this was "I didn't use a single one of their melodies. I simply wrote themes of my own in which I incorporated characteristics of Indian music, and while taking those themes as my raw material I employed all the techniques of modern rhythm, harmonization, contrapuntal working and orchestral colouring to bring them to full flower." The American elements and the Czech elements merge into each other and sound like - Dvořák.

At the time of these recordings, Rafael Kubelík was chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio in Munich, with whom he performed a repertory which reached from Palestrina through Bach, Viennese Classicism and the Romantic music which was especially dear to his heart, to Orff and serialism. He also conducted the London (1957) and New York Metropolitan (1973) premières of Berlioz's Les Troyens, performed at the Vienna and Lucerne Festivals, and toured Japan and the USA. In the words of the critic K. H. Ruppel, he embodied "the ideal combination of impulse and intellect ... heart and mind". Kubelík visits to the concert hall became rare during his eighth decade; his tall figure, which reminded some people of Wilhelm Furtwängler, was assailed by arthritis, and he now spends much of his time in the warm dry climate of California, where he devotes himself to an activity which his busy schedule used to forbid: composing.

The collapse of Communism made it possible for Kubelík to realize a hope of which he had sometimes despaired. After an absence of over 40 years he returned to Prague, the city of his youth and his strongest artistic influences, the city where he started his career; there he conducted Dvořák.

*Karl Schumann*

*(Translation: Mary Whittall)*

## Reviews

In the late 1960s and early '70s, the Berlin Philharmonic became the first German orchestra to record the complete cycle of Antonín Dvořák's nine symphonies. An authentic Czech accent was guaranteed by the émigré conductor Rafael Kubelík, born not far from Prague in 1914, and a maestro internationally famed for his impulsive vitality. This Dvořák cycle found immediate and enduring acclaim (for example, in Gramophone: "Nothing but pleasure! The BPO's playing is a delight in itself. Kubelík takes a Romantic approach to the music, not hesitating to relax into slower speeds; then whipping things up, back into a vigorous tempo").

At the time of these recordings, Kubelík was chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio in Munich. In the words of the critic K. H. Ruppel, he embodied "the ideal combination of impulse and intellect ... heart and mind".

## Links

For the playlist of the album, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maIM0Op7Ugk&list=PL91Fed2c3kN-g93CJnVA5A-s1veSFa2Da&index=1

For more details on the album, click here: https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/dvoak-symphonies-nos-8-9-kubelik-6435

For the official Deutsche Grammophon website, click here: https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en

## Notes

* Art Direction - Hartmut Pfeiffer
* Composer - Antonín Dvořák
* Conductor - Rafael Kubelík
* Engineers - Günter Hermanns, Heinz Wildhagen
* Executive-Producers - Dr. Rudolf Werner, Otto Gerdes
* Liner Notes - Karl Schumann, Mary Whittall, Hélène Chen-Ménissier, Manuela Amadei
* Orchestra - Berlin Philharmonic
* Photographers - Siegfried Lauterwasser, Lothar Winkler, Jack Mitchell
* Producer - Hans Weber
* Sound - Stereo
* Recording dates - June 1966 (8th Symphony), June 1972 (9th Symphony)
* Recording venue - Berlin, Jesus-Christus-Kirche
* Total duration - 78'27