Dussek Piano Concerto in Bb Op 22

After fleeing the French Revolution in 1789, Bohemian born Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812) spent 10 years in London. In the words of Haydn, "the most honest, politest, and the most excellent man among all composers" became renowned as a concert pianist and as a composer. The first performer to sit with his profile to the audience, he developed a fruitful friendship with the piano builder John Broadwood, receiving one of the very first 5½ octave instruments ever made. He was a piano virtuoso and a highly popular composer, although his music rapidly fell into obscurity. But was somewhat revived in the late nineteenth century. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Jan ladislav Dusík (Dussek) Piano Concerto in B flat major Op.22, Andreas Staier
 

Frederick Delius - North Country Sketches

Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH (/ˈdiːlɪəs/ 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce. He was sent to Florida in the United States in 1884 to manage an orange plantation. There he soon neglected his managerial duties, and in 1886 returned to Europe. Having been influenced by African-American music during his short stay in Florida, he began composing. After a brief period of formal musical study in Germany beginning in 1886, he embarked on a full-time career as a composer in Paris and then in nearby Grez-sur-Loing, where he and his wife Jelka lived for the rest of their lives, except during the First World War. Delius's first successes came in Germany, where Hans Haym and other conductors promoted his music from the late 1890s. In Delius's native Britain, it was 1907 before his music made regular appearances in concert programmes, after Thomas Beecham took it up. In the North Country Sketches of 1913–14, Delius divides the strings into 12 parts, and harps, horns, clarinets and bassoons evoke a lifeless winter scene. In Payne's view, the Sketches are the high water mark of Delius's compositional skill... Movements/Sections 4 pieces Autumn - The Wind Soughs in the Trees Winter Landscape Dance The March of Spring - Woodlands, Meadows and Silent Moors First Publication 1922 – London: Augener WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Delius orchestral piece performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the sublime Sir Thomas Beecham, recorded in February 1951. The video is a series of extracts from 'The Restless Year', a ground-breaking time-lapse photographic film from 1996. 

DELIUS Dance Rhapsodies

Frederick Delius 1862-1934 

The First Dance Rhapsody c.1908
Many Delius scores have been marked or edited by conductor and greatest advocate of Delius' music Sir Thomas Beecham. This was done with the approval of the composer who knew that only someone with a genuine love of his music would understand the nuances of performance. Beecham was clearly best qualified in this matter and on this recording from the 'Delius Edition' boxed set, it is the case. Delius was familiar with the moorland landscape of North Yorkshire and the West Riding at Bradford where he was born. He apparently used to spend many hours roaming the rugged moorland scenery on horse back absorbing surrounding nature. In later life he would probably have reflected back to these former early days and on the visits to the North Yorkshire coast where the Delius Family used to take holidays. This music I feel breathes the bracing Yorkshire air and is richly imbued with the wild and moody atmosphere of sweeping and remote moorland landscapes as depicted in the video. Welsh National Opera Orchestra Sir Charles Mackerras

VIDEO 1:

 

Dance Rhapsody No 2
Various dramatic Images of scenic Norway set to the lovely music of Frederick Delius .......Delius and his wife Jelka had a small cottage at Lesjaskog, close to where many of these images were taken. Delius was inspired by the dramatic and pastoral scenery of Norway, having accompanied Grieg on his many walking tours. This is not just the HIgh Hills, but down in the beautiful lushly verdant valleys and the deep azure waters of misty fiords. A landscape of dramatic contrasts that happen to flow in sympathy with the steeply rising and falling cadences and rich harmonic sequences of the lovely 'Dance Rhapsody No2'. On this recording - Sir Thomas Beecham conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra..... this is certainly one of my personal favourites!

VIDEO 2:

DEBUSSY Children's Corner Suite (Caplet)

Caplet with Debussy around 1900

Children's Corner is a suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy dedicated to his daughter, Claude-Emma (known as "Chou-Chou"), who was three years old at the time. It was published in 1908, and was given its world première in Paris by Harold Bauer on December 18 of that year. There are six pieces in the suite, each with an English-language title. This choice of language is most likely Debussy's nod towards Chou-Chou's English governess. The pieces are: - Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum (0:00) - Jimbo's Lullaby (2:09) - Serenade for the Doll (5:47) - The Snow is Dancing (8:28) - The Little Shepherd (11:05) - Golliwogg's Cakewalk (13:50) The pieces were transcribed for orchestra by composer André Caplet (1878-1925), a friend of Debussy, in 1911. 

WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Orchestre National De L'O.R.T.F. Jean Martinon

Debussy - Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor

The Cello Sonata is a late work by the French composer Claude Debussy. It was the first of a planned series of 'Six sonates pour divers instruments', however Debussy only completed two others, the sonata for violin and the sonata for flute, viola and harp. The sonata for cello and piano was written in 1915, and is notable for its brevity, most performances not exceeding 11 minutes. It is a staple of the modern cello repertoire and is commonly regarded as one of the finest masterpieces written for the instrument. It is divided into three short movements.

VIDEO: Maurice Gendron - Violoncello Christian Ivaldi - Piano 1967, Paris
 

Delibes: Sylvia

Sylvia, originally Sylvia, ou La nymphe de Diane, is a full-length ballet in two or three acts, first choreographed by Louis Mérante to music by Léo Delibes in 1876. Sylvia is a typical classical ballet in many respects, yet it has many interesting features that make it unique. Sylvia is notable for its mythological Arcadian setting, creative choreographies, expansive sets and, above all, its remarkable score. The ballet's origins are in Tasso's 1573 play Aminta, which provides the basic plot of Delibes' work. Jules Barbier and Baron de Reinach adapted this for the Paris Opera. The piano arrangement was composed in 1876 and the orchestral suite was done in 1880. When Sylvia premièred on Wednesday, June 14, 1876, at the Palais Garnier, it went largely unnoticed. In fact, the first seven productions of Sylvia were not commercially successful. It was the 1952 revival, choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, that popularized the ballet. Ashton's success set the stage for the 1997, 2004, 2005 and 2009 productions, all of which were based on his 1952 choreography. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Sylvia is available to watch in full now with Digital Theatre Collections. Explore the Royal Opera House Collection now at http://bit.ly/1aAa9eM Digital Theatre is delighted to present a selection of productions originally staged and filmed at the iconic Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Darcey Bussell and Roberto Bolle star in Frederick Ashton's Sylvia, restored to the splendour of its elegant and opulent three-act form for the 75th anniversary celebrations of The Royal Ballet. 

 

Delibes - Coppelia Ballet

Coppélia is a comic ballet originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter. Nuitter's libretto and mise-en-scène was based upon two stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann: Der Sandmann (The Sandman) and Die Puppe (The Doll). In Greek, κοπελιά means girl, young lady. Coppélia premiered on 25 May 1870 at the Théâtre Impérial l'Opéra, with the 16-year-old Giuseppina Bozzacchi in the principal role of Swanhilde. Its first flush of success was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris (which also led to the early death of Giuseppina Bozzacchi, on her 17th birthday), but eventually it became the most-performed ballet at the Opéra. Modern-day productions are traditionally derived from the revivals staged by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg in the late 19th century. Petipa's choreography was documented in the Stepanov method of choreographic notation at the turn of the 20th century. These notations were later used to stage the St. Petersburg version for such companies as the Vic-Wells Ballet (precursor of today's Royal Ballet). WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO:

 

Dvořák: Symphonic variations

 Antonín Dvořák's Symphonic Variations on an Original Theme (Czech: Symfonické variace) for orchestra, Op. 78, B. 70, were written in 1877. They are played fairly commonly, much like Johannes Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Haydn and Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations. They are often recorded in conjunction with his nine symphonies. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Sir Colin Davis: London Symphony Orchestra
 

Dvořák - Symphony No.2 in B flat major, Op. 4 ...

 The Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 4, B. 12 was composed by Antonín Dvořák between August and October 1865. Dvořák sent the score to be bound, but could not pay the binder, who then kept the score. It had its world premiere, and its sole performance during the composer's lifetime in March 1888, under Adolf Čech (who also premiered the 5th and 6th symphonies). It was generally well received. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Antonín Dvořák - Symphony No.2 in B flat major, Op. 4 Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek
 

DVORAK - Legends, Op.59

 Legends, Op.59, B.122, (Czech: Legendy) is a cycle of ten small-scale pieces by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. The work was composed originally for piano duet, but later was arranged also for a reduced orchestra. On 15 October 1880, the day before finishing the score of his sixth symphony, Dvořák wrote to his publisher Fritz Simrock about his plans for the near future saying he hoped to finish a piano duet cycle, "Legends," in the next month. He did not, however, begin to sketch the work until 30 January 1881. The definitive shape of the piano version was created from 12 February to 23 March 1881, partly in Prague and partly in Vysoká u Příbrami. Dvořák dedicated the composition to the critic Eduard Hanslick, who praised the cycle with great enthusiasm. The piano duet version was printed by the German publishing house Simrock in summer, 1881. In that same year Dvořák arranged the cycle for orchestra. The orchestration differs in every individual piece. The work was premiered in 1882, at the concert of the Prague Conservatory (part 1, 3, 4), under the baton of Antonín Bennewitz. Three more of the "Legends" (Nos. 2, 5, 6) were premiered at a concert of the Vienna Philharmonic on 26 November 1882, conducted by Wilhelm Jahn. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Legends Op.59: 1. Allegretto" by Budapest Festival Orchestra & Iván Fischer
 

Dvořák: Symphony No.6 in D major

 Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) composed his Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60, B. 112, in 1880. It is dedicated to Hans Richter, who was the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. With a performance time of approximately 40 minutes, the four-movement piece was one of the first of Dvořák’s large symphonic works to draw international attention. In it, he manages to capture some of the Czech national style within a standard Germanic classical-romantic form. Premiere: March 25, 1881. Prague: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Adolf Čech, conductor.WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No.6 in D major, Op.60 I. Allegro non tanto (00:00) II. Adagio (12:59) III. Scherzo (Furiant): Presto (24:02) IV. Finale: Allegro con spirito (31:47) BBC Symphony Orchestra Jiří Bělohlávek, conductor
 

Dvorak Piano Concerto in G minor, Opus 33

The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G minor, Op. 33, was the first of three concertos that Antonín Dvořák completed—it was followed by a violin concerto and then a cello concerto—and the piano concerto is probably the least known and least performed. Dvořák composed his piano concerto from late August through 14 September 1876. Its autograph version contains many corrections, erasures, cuts and additions, the bulk of which were made in the piano part. The work was premiered in Prague on 24 March 1878, with the orchestra of the Prague Provisional Theatre As the eminent music critic Harold C. Schonberg put it, Dvořák wrote "an attractive Piano Concerto in G minor with a rather ineffective piano part, a beautiful Violin Concerto in A minor, and a supreme Cello Concerto in B minor" Antonín Dvořák's youthful Piano Concerto in G minor, op. 33, has received less attention than his beloved Concertos for Violin and Cello. It was prominently revived in the 1940s by Czech pianist Rudolf Firkušný, himself a friend of Dvořák's son-in-law Josef Suk and pupil of Dvořák's associate Vilém Kurz (who extensively re-wrote sections of the piece, a source of some controversy). WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Pianist Sara Davis Buechner performs Antonin Dvorak's Piano Concerto in G minor, opus 33 with the Victoria Symphony and Bernhard Gueller, live at the Royal Theatre in Victoria, B.C., Canada.
 

BOIELDIEU La Dame Blanche Overture

 La dame blanche (The White Lady) is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five works of the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The Abbot. The opera has typical elements of the Romantic in its Gothic mode, including an exotic Scottish locale, a lost heir, a mysterious castle, a hidden fortune, and a ghost, in this case benevolent. The work was one of the first attempts to introduce the fantastic into opera and is a model for works such as Giacomo Meyerbeer's Robert le diable and Charles Gounod's Faust. The opera's musical style also heavily influenced later operas like Lucia di Lammermoor, I puritani and La jolie fille de Perth. La dame blanche was first performed on 10 December 1825 by the Opéra-Comique at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris. It was a major success and became a standby of the 19th century operatic repertory in France and Germany. By 1862, the Opéra-Comique had given more than 1,000 performances of La dame blanche. It was first performed in England in English as The White Lady at the Drury Lane Theatre on 9 October 1826, and in the United States in French at the Théâtre d'Orléans on 6 February 1827. The opera's popularity began to diminish towards the very end of the 19th century and performances since have been rare. The opera was revived in Paris in 1996 by the conductor Marc Minkowski. Various recordings of the opera have been made. The overture was put together from Boieldieu's themes by his student Adolphe Adam. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: JEFF MANOOKIAN, conductor - OPAL SINFONIETTA (Bologne Sur Mer, France)
 

Dvorak : Symphony No.5 in F major

Dvořák composed his fifth symphony in the summer months in June and July 1875. The opus number is actually incorrect. The autograph was marked with number 24, but the publisher Simrock (ignoring the protests of the composer) gave this symphony a high number of 76. It is considered largely pastoral in style, similar to the sixth he wrote about five years later. The symphony was first performed four years after it was written, on March 25, 1879 at the Slav concert of the Academic Readers' Association in the Prague Žofín concert hall, conducted by Adolf Čech. It was published by Simrock in 1888 (also as a piano arrangement for four hands). The composition was revised in the autumn 1887. The symphony is dedicated to Hans von Bülow, in gratitude for the conductor's systematic championing of Dvořák's orchestral works.

 VIDEO: Dvorak : Symphony No.5 in F major Václav Neumann Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
 

DVORAK Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, B. 163

The Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, B. 163, is a symphony by Antonín Dvořák, composed in 1889 at Vysoká u Příbramě, Bohemia, on the occasion of his election to the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Arts. Dvořák conducted the premiere in Prague on 2 February 1890. In contrast to other symphonies of both the composer and the period, the music is cheerful and optimistic. Dvořák composed and orchestrated the symphony within the two-and-a-half-month period from 26 August to 8 November 1889 at his summer resort in Vysoká u Příbramě, Bohemia. The score was composed on the occasion of his admission to Prague Academy and dedicated "To the Bohemian Academy of Emperor Franz Joseph for the Encouragement of Arts and Literature, in thanks for my election." Dvořák conducted the premiere in Prague on 2 February 1890. Dvořák tried to achieve a marked difference to his Symphony No. 7, a stormy romantic work: "different from the other symphonies, with individual thoughts worked out in a new way". The Eighth is cheery and lyrical and draws its inspiration more from the Bohemian folk music that Dvořák loved. The Eighth Symphony is performed fairly frequently, but not nearly as often as the more famous Ninth Symphony ("From the New World"). In this regard it enjoys a similar status to the Seventh Symphony. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Symphony No. 8 in G major op. 88 by Antonin Dvorak, performed by the WSKOV orchestra, conducted by Frank Adams. Movements: 00:08 -- 1. Allegro con brio 11:30 -- 2. Adagio 22:29 -- 3. Allegretto grazioso - molto vivace 28:29 -- 4. Allegro ma non troppo Live recording of concert given May 28, 2011, Wageningen.
 

Dvořák - Othello Overture

The concert overture Othello (Czech: Othello, koncertní ouvertura), Op. 93, B. 174, was written by Antonín Dvořák in 1892 as the third part of a trilogy of overtures called "Nature, Life and Love." The first two parts of the trilogy are In Nature's Realm, Op. 91 ("Nature") and the Carnival Overture, Op. 92 ("Life"). The overture is scored for two flutes (Flute I doubling piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets in A, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, harp and strings.

VIDEO: Masaryk University Symphony Orchestra Faculty of Arts Institute of Musicology Antonín Dvořák - Othello (overture), Op. 93 Conductor: Martin Mazánek Brno, Czech Republic (23. 4. 2013)
 

Dvořák: Sonata for violin and piano F dur, op. 57

Composed in 1880, when Dvořák was around 39 years old

 VIDEO: Barbora Valečková 

Dvorak Scherzo Capriccioso, Op. 66

Dvorak's Scherzo Capriccioso, Op. 66 was composed in the year 1883.  Premiered by National Theatre Orchestra, conducted by Adolf Čech.  Despite its name, which suggests that it is a work cheerful and playful nature, the Scherzo capriccioso strongly represents a period in his life of some internal crisis whose cause has not yet been satisfactorily clarified. Perhaps it was caused by the emotional upheaval that Dvorak experienced in connection with the death of his mother on the 15th of December in 1882. This period of the composer's life, includes, among other things his work on the dramatic seventh symphony and his Piano Trio in F minor.

 VIDEO: Round Top Festival Institute Saturday June 28, 2014 Festival Concert Hall

 

Dvořák: Symphony no. 7 in D minor, op. 70

 Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141, was completed on 17 March 1885 and first performed on 22 April 1885 at St James's Hall in London. It was originally published as Symphony No. 2. Dvořák's work on the symphony began on 13 December 1884. Dvořák had heard and admired Brahms's new 3rd Symphony, and this prompted him to think of writing of a new symphony himself. So it was fortuitous that in that same year the Philharmonic Society of London invited him to write a new symphony and elected him as an honorary member. A month later, after his daily walk to the railway station in Prague, he said "the first subject of my new symphony flashed in to my mind on the arrival of the festive train bringing our countrymen from Pest". The Czechs were in fact coming to the National Theatre in Prague, where there was to be a musical evening to support the political struggles of the Czech nation. He resolved that his new symphony would reflect this struggle. In doing so the symphony would also reveal something of his personal struggle in reconciling his simple and peaceful countryman's feelings with his intense patriotism and his wish to see the Czech nation flourish. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
 

Dvořák Capriccio

Capriccio is a short work which, due to the unwarranted uniformity of its ideas, is not one of the composer’s strongest works. While set within a rondo framework, it is more akin to a piece of loose improvisation. As an occasional work it practically never appears in the repertoire. Composed around June, 1878 with a revision in 1892. Premiered on 22 May 1886, in Plzen by Josef Becvar and Jakub Tichy.

 VIDEO: PESTRÉ TRIO Ondřej Kvita - violin, Lenka Strejčková - violin, Jan Pellant - viola