Musica Florea conducted by Marek Stryncl began their period instrument series of Dvorak's Symphonies with a two disc set of Symphonies 7 and 8. When stocks ran out this recording vanished from the Arta catalogue. Rather than repress more copies, it was decided to make new recordings.
Why has Marek Stryncl decided to remake his interpretation of Dvorak's Symphony No. 7? "I have come to believe," he says, "that our interpretation of this work was not romantic enough. It clung to the legacy and influence of conductor Vaclav Talich who at the end of his life said that he would perform Antonin Dvorak's works without all this romantic overlay."
This album commences with a substantial extra: the Rhapsody in A Minor, Op.14, B. 44. It is an early work dating from 1874. Inspired by the example of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, Dvorak later began to call it a Symphonic Poem - but did not provide any programme.
Ten years after composing the Rhapsody, Dvorak created his Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70, B.141. Commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London, Dvorak conducted its premiere. British critics thought Dvorak the equal of Brahms, while even surpassing him in strength and richness of musical thought.
