The sixth instalment of the “coloured series” mapping Dvořák’s oeuvre in pivotal Supraphon recordings links up to two previous parts featuring chamber music (SU38152, SU39212) and one containing piano works (SU40182). Within the series, this box set rounds off the complete Dvořák instrumental creation. It comprises virtually unknown early pieces (Serenade), paramount works of the mature creator (Dumky, Rondo, Silent Woods), as well as masterful miniatures – compositions technically undemanding yet engrossing by virtue of their rich invention and charm (Bagatelles, Romantic Pieces, Sonatina). Dvořák also reflected the period fashion of piano four-hands playing; some of the essential cycles known today in orchestral versions were originally written for piano duo (both of the series of Slavonic Dances, Legends). The renowned ensembles and instrumentalists who made these recordings (Josef Suk, the Guarneri Trio, the Panocha Quartet, Pavel Šporcl, Jiří Bárta, etc.) can be deemed the true bearers of the distinct Dvořák tradition.
Recorded in Prague at the Domovina Studio, December 1996 (CD1/1-4), May (CD1/5-8), October and November 1997 (CD2), August and September 2005 (CD3/1-2), November 1971 (CD3/5, CD4/9), June and July 1971 (CD3/6-8, CD4/1-8), September 1995 (CD4/10-14), June 1997 (CD5/15), March 1992 (CD5/16-17), October 1994 (CD6) and November 2000 (CD7) in the Bohuslava Martinů hall, Lichtenstein Palace (HAMU), April 1995 (CD3/3-4), in the Martínek Studio, October and November 2008 (CD5/1-13), in the Dvořák hall of the Rudolfinum, October 1982 (CD5/14)