Antonín Dvorák

In 1878 Dvorák was commissioned to write something along the lines of Brahms’s “Hungarian Dances”, but using the sounds of his native country. The resulting eight “Slavonic Dances” led to his international breakthrough. “Furiant”, “polka”, “soudeská”: all are written with consummate mastery and dazzling formal sophistication. Although the “Slavonic Dances” also became popular in orchestral arrangement, they were originally written for piano four-hands. Yet the musical text Dvorák released for publication was anything but ideal. Now, to honor the centennial of his death, we are presenting his original version with a detailed commentary on the work’s sources and editorial problems. The fingering, always a delicate matter in duet playing, has been entrusted to Andreas Groethuysen, with results that will prove a boon to performers everywhere.