Klaus Döring's Classical Music/Klaus Döring's Klassische Musik

A yearning for his homeland and the devastating loss of a beloved friend give the Czech’s work an almost unbearable pathos, explains Jo Talbot Antonín Dvořák © Getty Images Jo Talbot Published: September 29, 2025 at 5:00 pm Who was Antonín Dvořák? In September 1892, the 51-year-old  Antonín Dvořák  arrived in New York to take up the position of director of the National Conservatory – a move that would not only swell his bank account but also see him fêted as something of a celebrity in his adopted home. On top of his teaching duties, Dvořák also performed and travelled widely, absorbing much of the local culture. His compositions from his period in the US are among his most famous, including his  Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World’ , ‘American’ String Quartet No. 12 and, shortly before returning back to his Czech homeland in 1895, his Cello Concerto.   Dvořák Cello Concerto: the work Discovering the cello's potential As Robert Hausmann played Dvořák’s Cello Conc...

 by Maureen Buja , Interlude   Antonín Dvořák   (1841–1904) loved the poetry of Karl Jaromir Erben, particularly his collection of Czech folk ballads,   The Garland , published in 1853. Starting in 1896, once he’d finished his nine symphonies and his other major orchestral works, Dvořák used the ballads from   The Garland   as the basis for a series of ‘orchestral ballads’. He started with   Vodník (‘The Water Goblin’, b195) ,   Polednice (‘The Noon Witch’, b196) , and   Zlatý kolovrat (‘The Golden Spinning-Wheel’, b197)   all at the same time, completing them just a few weeks later, and then started on   Holoubek (‘The Wild Dove’, b198)   a few months later, completing it in November 1896. Antonín Dvořák, 1882 This development of the symphonic poem, all based on one literary source, was not unprecedented for Dvořák. Earlier works had literary elements, the most familiar perhaps being in his works written in America (the...

op.46 and op.72: 1.) No. 8 in G minor (Furiant) op.46 2.) No. 5 in A major (Skočná) op.46 3.) No. 2 in E minor (Starodávný) op.72 4.) No. 7 in C major (Kolo) op.72 Concert was sold out in record time of two days (1500 seats, Gallus Hall, Cankarjev dom, Slovenia). Our kids played stunningly and set a new standard of playing and performing. This is first real film based Slavonic Dances. Conductor: maestro Nejc Bečan; concert master: Nejc Avbelj; sound design: Mitja Krže; head of production: Grega Jeraša; sound mastering: Iztok Zupan (Klopotec production); concert and film director: Primož Zevnik

by   Maureen Buja, Interlude Sometimes you get tired of the details, tired of the intricate formal structure, and you just long for a piece of simple music. This is where Light Music plays a role. Starting in the 18th century, light music was the contrast to absolute music. Here was music that was simple and that, as one writer put it, satisfied all the Ts: Tunes, Tonality, Triads, and the Tonic. No complicated excursions to far keys, but rather an emphasis on the melodies and the rhythms. A work such as a movement from Richard Rodney Bennett’s  The Aviary , gives us a key to the genre: simple, melodic, and engaging.  Malcolm Arnold’s sets of  English Dances , created at the invitation of his publisher who wanted a response to Antonín Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances. Jollity mixes with melancholy here, and at the same time, is capable of brash brass statements, as in No. 4 of the first set of English Dances. When the BBC used this as the theme for a radio program, peop...