Classics Explained: DVORAK - Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World' (Siepmann)

Classics Explained: DVORAK - Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World' (Siepmann)
Disc 1
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
Disc 2
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