[8/5/12] Dvořák's "Slavonic Dances": a world, or 16 worlds, in 16 miniatures (continued)

Here's something you don't hear every day (fortunately): the same dance we saw and heard Václav Talich conducting at the top of this post, the dumka, No. 10 in E minor, Op. 72, No. 2, in an orchestral arrangement with solo-violin and solo-cello parts, played by Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, with the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa.


BEFORE WE MOVE ON, SOME NOTES ABOUT OUR
THREE VERSIONS OF THE HUNGARIAN DANCE NO. 5

As you'll have noted, the orchestration isn't by Brahms, who orchestrated only a few of the 21 Hungarian Dances, though everyone in the world picked up the slack with No. 5, arranging it for every conceivable instrumental combination -- like the Joachim violin-and-piano arrangement we heard played by Fritz Kreisler.

IF YOU WANT EASY ACCESS TO OUR THREE VERSIONS,
THANKS TO THE MIRACLE OF CUT-AND-PASTE . . .

BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 5: Allegro

original version for piano duet: in F-sharp minor

Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1956

orchestral version by Martin Schmeling: in G minor

Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner, cond. Denon/Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 1989

violin-and-piano version by Joseph Joachim: in G minor

Fritz Kreisler, violin; Carl Lamson, piano. Victor, recorded Feb. 17, 1916

A couple of quick notes about obvious differences:

(1) Note that the orchestrator raised the key from F-sharp minor to the orchestrally more comfortable G minor. Joachim, you'll note, also chose the string-friendlier key of G minor for his violin version.

(2) In the little contrasting central section, pianists don't do much of a slowdown for those sustained chords, for the obvious reason that string instruments can sustain those chords in a way that a piano can't -- in fact, not just sustain them but give them a nifty swell. Who could resist the temptation to draw them out?

HERE'S ONE OF THE HUNGARIAN DANCES
THAT BRAHMS HIMSELF ORCHESTRATED

I believe the number is three (out of 21). I should probably look it up.

BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G minor: Allegro molto

Original version for piano duet

Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky, piano. DG, recorded January 1976

Orchestral version by the composer

Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner, cond. Denon/Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 1989

This orchestration is a lot more atmospheric, don't you think?

FINALLY, I THOUGHT WE'D TACK ON
ONE MORE HUNGARIAN DANCE . . .

. . . from a group comprising the final five, which attracted an even more persuasive orchestrator. Note that this gentleman didn't shy away from the key of F-sharp minor.

I would suggest that No. 17 is about as close as the Hungarian Dances come in terms of emotional weight to Dvořák's Slavonic Dances. And for our piano version, since the Kontarsky brothers (who were best known for their performance of "modern" four-hand piano music) take a rather sharp-edged approach to this music, I thought that here we might hear both their performance and Alfred Brendel and Walter Klien's.

BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 17 in F-sharp minor: Andantino

Original version for piano duet

Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky, piano. DG, recorded January 1976

Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1956

Orchestral version by Antonin Dvořák

Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner, cond. Denon/Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 1989

A NOTE ABOUT THE CHOICE OF HUNGARIAN DANCES

It could be argued that I've misrepresented the Hungarian Dances by plucking out three minor-key ones. As we'll see, minor-key outings are a highly select (but important) minority among Dvořák's Slavonic Dances (only 5 out of the 16), but among Brahms's Hungarian Dances, 14 out of 21 are in the minor -- including 4 out of the 5 that Dvořák orchestrated.

NOW, MOVING ON TO
THE SLAVONIC DANCES

The first set of eight Slavonic Dances, Dvořák's Op. 46, was so successful that the publisher came back to the composer for more, which eventually yielded the Op. 72 set of eight. I've picked out three dances from each set to hear today, in both the four-hand-piano originals and the composer's orchestrations. That's in addition to the opening dance, which we heard Friday night, and again through the miracle of cut-and-paste we can easily enough hear again today.

Slavonic Dance No. 1 in C, Op. 35, No. 1: Presto (Furiant)

Original version for piano duet

Michel Béroff and Jean-Philippe Collard, piano. EMI, recorded Feb. 9-12, 1976

Orchestral version by the composer

Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Jan. 4-5, 1963

Dvořák cast the 16 Slavonic Dances in the form of: three each of dumka, sousedská, and skočná; two furiants; and one each of polka odzemek, špacírka, mazur (or starodávný), and kolo. We're not going to hear samples of each, but we will hear five, doubling up on the furiant (the opening and closing dances of Op. 46) and sousedská. I don't see any point in trying to define, or sending you to a definition of, each of these forms, since at least for the five that are represented below, you're about to hear Dvořák's version.

The basic form, again, in A-B-A. with "B" a contrasting middle section. In general each of these sections is noticeably more fully developed chez Dvořák than was the case with Brahms in his Hungarian Dances.

No. 2 in E minor, Op. 46, No. 2: Allegretto scherzando (Dumka)

A classic slow-fast-specimen whose slow section is perhaps the most soulful section of this soul-rich series. (Is it any wonder Fritz Kreisler pounced on this dance?) Antal Dorati lets it breathe without oversentimentalizing it.


Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1959

Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now the Minnesota Orchestra), Antal Dorati, cond. Mercury, recorded Apr. 5-6, 1958

[arr. Kreisler, from Op. 46, No. 2, and Op. 72, No. 1 (which we hear below)] Fritz Kreisler, violin; Carl Lamson, piano. Victor/BMG, recorded Dec. 6, 1928

No. 4 in F, Op. 46, No. 4: Tempo di menuetto (Sousedská)

Another slow-fast-slow dance -- utterly luscious without aiming for quite the elegiac tone of the other sousedská we're going to hear today, Op. 72, No. 6. For technical reasons too complicated to go into, this is our only all-native-Czechoslovak performance (under other circumstances I might have tried to stick to all-native performances), and I don't think it's an accident that it comes in Op. 46, No. 4.


Michel Béroff and Jean-Philippe Collard, piano. EMI, recorded Feb. 9-12, 1976

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Šejna, cond. Supraphon, recorded Jun 16-18, 1959

No. 8 in G minor, Op. 46, No. 8: Presto (Furiant)

As noted above, Op. 46 concludes the way it began: with a furiant, but a minor-key one -- though it keeps slipping into the major. In a way we're also beginning the way we started: with the Cleveland Orchestra, which had produced one of the great sets of Slavonic Dances in 1963 under George Szell and produced another distinguished version under the most accomplished of Szell's successors in Cleveland, Christoph von Dohnányi.


Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1959

Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi, cond. Decca, recorded August 1989

No. 9 in B, Op. 72, No. 1: Molto vivace (Odzemek)

The Op. 72 set kicks off with another explosion of the special energy Dvořák seemed able to generate at will -- and was so adept at modulating into his equally special lyrical mode.


Michel Béroff and Jean-Philippe Collard, piano. EMI, recorded Feb. 9-12, 1976

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik, cond. DG, recorded June 1974

No. 15 in C, Op. 72, No. 7: Allegro vivace (Kolo)

Another irresistible high-energy attention-getter, which is careful not to overstay its welcome.


Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1959

Gewandhaus Orchestra (Leipzig), Kurt Masur, cond. Philips/Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded 1984-85

No. 16 in A-flat, Op. 72, No. 8: Grazioso e lento, ma non troppo, quasi tempo di valse (Sousedská)

The second set comes to rest on the most achingly beautiful of the dances -- again, it's not hard to hear what attracted Fritz Kreisler to Op. 72, No. 8. The orchestral version naturally lends itself to a more expansive rendering, and Neeme Järvi delivers a peach of a performance.


Michel Béroff and Jean-Philippe Collard, piano. EMI, recorded Feb. 9-12, 1976

Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Järvi, cond. Chandos, recorded Mar. 17-18, 1985

[arr. Kreisler] Fritz Kreisler, violin; Carl Lamson, piano. Victor/BMG, recorded Dec. 6, 1928


AND AS LONG AS WE KEEP LISTENING TO OP. 72, NO. 2 . . .

Here's a violin-and-piano arrangement played by David Oistrakh (not at his best).




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