Essential Dvořák
There's much more to Antonín Dvořák than the "New World" Symphony. The Czech composer's works burst with melody, often inflected by dance rhythms from his native Bohemia, and later influenced by three years spent in America.
Read more…Dvořák's music has an unmistakably Bohemian flavour. Folk-dances such as the skočná and furiant appear frequently, from his upbeat Slavonic Dances to his big orchestral works. The 'Serenade for Winds' has a bracing, outdoors feel as do overtures such as 'In Nature's Realm'. Of his nine symphonies, the last three are very popular, rich in melody. Yet Dvořák could do "dark". His 'Othello' overture broods wonderfully and his most famous opera, 'Rusalka', concerns a fairy tale water sprite who falls in love with a prince and wishes to take human form… with disastrous consequences. The composer's time as director of the National Conservatory in New York City yielded music with a "new world" vibrancy, although it's worth remembering that the full title of his Ninth Symphony is "From the New World" and is as much concerned with homesickness for Bohemia as African-American melodies.