Dvorak: Symphony No. 6 & American Suite

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Gaffigan's tempo in the first movement of the Symphony is on the fast side, but this imparts a strong sense of direction...Gaffigan's performance of the American Suite is as delightful as the... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 26th Aug 2014
Catalogue No: HMC902188
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 67 minutes

Dvořák: Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60

Work length46:30

Album only

I. Allegro non tanto

Track length16:31

Album only

II. Adagio

Track length11:25

$1.40

$1.75

$2.05

III. Scherzo (Furiant). Presto

Track length7:41

$1.20

$1.50

$1.75

IV. Finale. Allegro con spirito

Track length10:53

$1.40

$1.75

$2.05

Dvořák: American Suite in A major, Op. 98a(b)

Work length21:16

$5.00

$6.25

$7.25

I. Andante con moto

Track length4:48

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

II. Allegro

Track length4:32

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

III. Moderato (alla Pollacca)

Track length4:50

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

IV. Andante

Track length3:56

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

V. Allegro

Track length3:10

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

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"The Americans expect great things of me,’ Dvorák wrote in November 1892 to his friend Josef Hlávka, ‘and the main thing, so they say, is to show them the way to the promised land and kingdom of a new and independent art, in short, to create a national music."

Dvorák’s years in the New World were, from an artistic point of view, unquestionably the most fertile of his entire career. In addition to the Ninth Symphony, he wrote there, among others, the Quartet Op.96 and the Quintet Op.97, the Biblical Songs, the Te Deum and the Cello Concerto. The Suite Op.98, which has only acquired the nickname ‘American’ in more recent times, was composed in the spring of 1894 for piano. A year later, shortly before returning to Prague, Dvorák arranged it for orchestra. Written when he was director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, it is an exotic patchwork of Amerindian and Afro-American music but with a pronounced Bohemian accent. In these superb performances by the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester led by James Gaffigan, both the charm and folk elements of these works are clearly in evidence.

Reviews

October 2014

Gaffigan's tempo in the first movement of the Symphony is on the fast side, but this imparts a strong sense of direction...Gaffigan's performance of the American Suite is as delightful as the music; melody is well to the fore with no sense of this unpretentious music being patronised.

Awards Issue 2014

Lightness, transparency, geniality, warmth and a keen sense of symphonic inexorability - these and other admirable qualities keep the first movement...consistently engaging. His pacing is near ideal...This is a wonderful CD, my first encounter with Gaffigan and his players. I can't wait to hear more.

October 2014

This is a thoroughly enjoyable new recording of Dvorak’s Sixth Symphony which has the advantage of an unusual and attractive coupling … James Gaffigan paces the music expertly … Gaffigan’s disk gives a sensitively shaped, straightforward and effective reading of the work, very engagingly played. He has a fine ear for detail, and the Lucerne players bring out plenty of the inner working of Dvorak’s orchestration.

5th October 2014

Switzerland’s oldest orchestra and conductor James Gaffigan make a beguiling, expert team.

Dvorak: Symphony No. 6 & American Suite

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