Dvořák and America

disc review Published on September 01, 2014 in ClassicalCDReview.com by Robert Benson

Note: Since this disc review is no longer available online, we are reprinting it here.

Here’s an unusual CD from Naxos devoted to music by Dvorák and music inspired by him relating to his time in America. Dvorák apparently was considering composing a setting of Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha but never got around to it. Some of his music for the proposed project was instead included in his Symphony No. 9. In an attempt to rectify this, Dvorák scholars Joseph Horowitz an Michael Beckerman have produced Hiawatha Melodrama, for narrator (here Kevin Dias) and orchestra. The score includes excerpts from Symphony No. 9 and other music written by Dvrorák during his “American” period, with appropriate connecting interludes composed by Angel Gil-Ordóñez, who conducts. We also have Goin’ Home, for bass-baritone and orchestra with a text by William Arms Fischer, and several other works of the period. The program ends with two pieces by Arthur Farwell, Navajo War Dance No. 2, and Pawnee Horses heard in a piano solo version as well as an arrangement for chorus. Excellent performances throughout, and text is provided for Hiawatha. This is a fascinating, unusual disk worthy of investigation.