Slovanské tance - CD

This recording presents Antonín Dvořák’s complete Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 and Op. 72, performed by the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK under conductor Tomáš Brauner. Before the Moravian Duets had even been published, the enthusiastic Berlin publisher Fritz Simrock commissioned the young Dvořák to write Czech dances inspired by Brahms’s Hungarian Dances. Dvořák completed the sketches for the first set in a few hours, the piano four-hands version in three weeks, and worked on the orchestral version at the same time. Music critic Louis Ehlert then made the unknown Czech composer famous virtually overnight with an enthusiastic article in the Berlin National-Zeitung, comparing the Slavonic Dances with Brahms’s Hungarian Dances and praising their naturalness, originality and joyful music. During the first year after publication, selections from the dances were heard in Prague, New York, Boston, London, Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne, Bonn, Nice, Graz and Lucerne, among other places. Dvořák is deeply rooted in the Prague Symphony Orchestra’s artistic identity through conductors including Jiří Bělohlávek, Sir Charles Mackerras, Václav Neumann and Tomáš Netopil. This new recording draws on a profound interpretive tradition, while its clear and transparent sound captures the qualities of the beautiful Art Nouveau Smetana Hall in Prague’s Municipal House.