5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Czechs in America, November 1, 2010
This review is from: Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 / Martinu: Symphony No. 2 (Audio CD)
This fascinating CD gives us music by two Czech (Bohemian) composers who lived and worked in America. First of all, there is Antonin Dvorak, who spent several years in the 1890s as a teacher at a national conservatory in New York City. He absorbed native American music and, rather than simply quote such music, wrote his original melodies that reflected what he had heard and observed. It is clearly a series of Czech impressions of America and highly original in what has become one of Dvorak's masterpieces. The performance here is top notch throughout, offering yet another interpreation of one of the greatest symphonies ever composed.
Bohuslav Martinu fled France for America at the beginning of World War II as the Nazis prepared to invade and conquer a nation where so many composers and writers had gone to flee either the Nazis or the Communists. Martinu was a highly original composer who also had a Bohemian background. He also listened carefully to other musical forms, especially jazz. He composed six symphonies in America from the early 1940s through the early 1950s. They are generally very enegetic, quite animated, and rhythmic works. The second symphony is seldom performed or recorded today, but it is another really wonderful orchestral work. Those unfamiliar with Martinu's music should really enjoy this very fine performance of a neglected masterpiece.
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