Every time I hear something by Dvorak that I didn't previously know (all I really know is the Cello concerto, and a few symphonies), I like it so much, that I have to find what it is on the radio station's playlist on their website.
The latest was Dvorak's piano concerto in A, which I first heard just this morning. He is quickly rivalling my other favorite composers (Beethoven, Grieg, Rossini)
EDIT: Thanks for all the recommendations in the comments! Keep 'em coming 🎶
EDIT/2: Mama mia, I feel like I have homework now LOL. Into a second out of all the recommendations, and I must say I put the violin concerto right up there with Brahms, Beethoven, Mendelsohn, etc. So evocative, it makes me wish I could taste music!!
I have recently rediscovered this piece after a few years and am completely enthralled by it. To me, it's his most creative symphony. The structure is odd, the orchestration is very sparse and chamber-like. It's dark but not tragic or depressing, just more questioning and indeterminate.
One questions I have is: Why do most conductors insist on slowing down the end of the last movement? I've looked at the score and there is nothing notated that the tempo should slow at all yet most conductors tend to slow it down considerably. To my ears, this contradicts the way Sibelius scored it to give you the sense it's slowing down but it really isn't. Not slowing down gives the flute and oboe interjections in the end more urgency.
The only ones I find that don't slow down are both Vanska recordings: Lahti and Minnnesota (the Lahti version is better IMO) and the LPO Davis from the mid '90s. Anyone else prefer the more consistent tempos over the slowed down ones?