“I am merely a simple Czech musician” Antonin Dvorák once told the journalists who were surrounding him. Such a modest self-evaluation characterizes very precisely this giant of Czech romantic music. Being an orchestral performer since his early days Dvorák was able to study the individual features of all the instruments of the orchestra. He learned from practice all the characteristic traits and the intonational features of Czech folk music, absorbed its melodicism and rhythm and acquired knowledge of the principles of form construction and the traits of orchestration. The “simple Czech musician” in truth came from a simple peasant stock, having participated in folk gatherings and being exposed everywhere with the folk music traditions. As he was a “simple Czech musician” all of his artistic output belongs to his people and homeland, greatly beloved by the composer. Many of Dvorák’s compositions were dedicated to his native land, including the orchestral overtures “My Country”, “Amid Nature” and “Carnival”. Together with his predecessor Bedrich Smetana, Dvorák sang praise to the rare beauty of the Czech land.
In 1892 the already acknowledged composer and musical activist accepted the invitation of Jeanette Thurber and became the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. The three years spent by Dvorák in the United States did not go by without leaving traces on his music. Profoundly immersing himself into the new and unfamiliar musical milieu Dvorák absorbed the intonational and rhythmic individual traits of black and Indian music. The features of Czech culture and the music of the inhabitants of America were able to merge in his last, most significant symphony “From the New World”. Notwithstanding the apparent influences of other cultures, Dvorák asserted that his best orchestral composition “remains real Czech music”. In one of his letters Dvorák wrote: “I aimed to portray in my symphony the character of Indian and Negro melodies. I did not appropriate a single one of those melodies. I simply wrote characteristically similar melodies, bringing into them features of Indian music and utilizing these melodies as my themes I developed them, applying to them all the accomplishments of contemporary rhythm, harmony, counterpoint and orchestral color”. In this work the composer’s tendencies towards national liberation reflected themselves with a new energy, manifesting themselves in the work’s profound dramatic qualities.
The Ninth Symphony by Dvorák (which was the Fifth, according to the composer’s own numeration) presents a four-movement symphonic cycle with a slow second movement, followed by a Scherzo. The Sonata Allegro of the first movement is preceded by a small declamatory introduction of an epical quality, in which the strenuous calls of the horns are sounded out flaringly. The main theme of the Sonata Allegro is based on a rhythmically syncopated melodic figure, derived from Negro songs. It will subsequently appear in the most important themes of the symphony. The juxtaposition of the concentrated gloomy introduction with the active main theme is what forms the main conflict of the symphony – the oppressed position of the people and their aspiration towards liberty. The lyrical features of the image of the people are present in the two subsequent themes of the first movement, resembling playing on folk pipes.
The second movement of the symphony was initially titled “Legend,” since its images were aroused by the impressions from the composer’s familiarization with Longfellow’s long poem “Hiawatha”. However, many researchers of Dvorák’s music notice within the music of this movement a feeling of longing for his homeland. The main slow tune, stated in the part of the English horn, provides the sound of the music with an intimate quality.
The third movement, presenting a rapid Scherzo, is likewise permeated with an unusual melodic and rhythmic individuality. It is built on a ceaseless alternation of colorful dance melodies, within which a tremendous amount of tension and strain could be felt. Thus, the Scherzo returns the listener to the world of heroic patriotic images, which opens up in its fullness in the victorious Finale.
The initial assertive intonations of the main theme of the Finale create a life-asserting heroic mood. The work closes with a monumental coda, which combines the thematic material of all four movements of the symphony. The outcome of the symphony is perceived as an overall call to the liberation of oppressed people.

The name of the famous conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky is well-known to everybody, but few people are familiar with the art of his father, the outstanding conductor, Nikolai Anosov. Being a conductor in his calling, Anosov did not have the opportunity in receiving special training of a conductor. His career at the conductor’s podium began rather accidentally, as a result of a sudden illness of the main conductor of an orchestra. He made his debut not with some kind of orchestral miniature but with an entire opera performance – namely, with Gluck’s “Orpheus”. Demonstrating himself as a talented conductor, he headed various orchestras, among which were the Rostov-on-Don Symphony Orchestra and the Azerbaijan Philharmonic Orchestra. Completing studies at the Composition Department of Moscow Conservatory where he studied in absentia, Anosov was nominated as the main conductor of the Opera Studio of Moscow Conservatory, by means of which he revived performances of undeservedly neglected operas “Coachmen at the Crossroads” by Yevstigney Fomin and “The Son-Rival” by Dmitri Bortnyansky.
The repertoire of Anosov is marked by a breadth of repertoire and includes a large amount of works by Soviet composers. Numerous operatic and orchestral works were recorded by Anosov onto gramophone records. His interpretations are distinguished by precise attention to details and by a meticulousness; an excellent example of this could be demonstrated in the conductor’s rendition of Dvorák’s symphony “From the New World”.
In addition to his extremely famous Concerto for Cello and Orchestra Dvorák also wrote a Violin Concerto, which is presented here in performance by the outstanding musician and wonderful violinist David Oistrakh.