Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Serenade for Strings -- Dvorak


For me, some resplendently beautiful themes subsume the entire work. Overall a rather "moderate" piece in some sense of the word (the first movement is even marked Moderato), in that it mainly focuses on subtler emotions evoked by a character lacking elements of the sheer grandeur and emotional range that can be present in a lot of the major Romantic works (especially late Romantic, and especially some nationalist music). All the same, the work still contains parts variegated and dynamic in character, but I will focus on the 2nd movement.

This recording is the best I've found so far, and all the other movements of the work can be accessed through the related videos. I picked the 2nd movement because it is my favorite, for a few reasons. For one, I've always been partial to certain waltzes, and this movement is marked "Tempo Di Valse," lending it that flowing, spritely graceful element characteristic of those waltzes. However, this is accompanied by a very nice implementation of a 5-bar phrase for the main theme. Secondly, the choice of 5 bars, being a bit less common in general, not only makes the piece more unique but also makes the listener (at least in my case) listen a bit more intently to keep track of the beats and phrases.

I group Dvorak with composers like Grieg, Sibelius, and Chopin as one who was able to capture the beauty and essence of their native culture and express it musically, and so I think it's important to try to bear in mind any understanding of Czech culture when listening to this music, as that is where it has its origins.

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