Dvorak: Romantic Music's Most Versatile Genius

Back cover of the book was creased and doggeared. Since this book was bought as a birthday gift, I would appreciate a full refund on this order.

There is no question that author David Hurwitz loves the music of Dvorak, and his knowledge of Dvorak scholarship is vast. "Dvorak: Romantic Music's Most Versatile Genius" is a fantastic overview of the composer's entire canon of works written lovingly in an organized, breezy style that offers something to both connoisseurs and curious amateurs alike.The text reads more like a refreshing casual conversation rather than a dry academic thesis, and Mr. Hurwitz's enthusiasm for Dvorak's music leaps off of every page. I purchased the book soon after it's initial release in 2005 and have used it year after year as my primary resource for all things Dvorak. It's that good.

I was researching Dvorak's music and found this deepened my understanding and appreciation of his music. The book gets somewhat technical, but the CD is helpful. Probably mostly for DD's. dedicated Dvorak fans.

I got the book only, no CD

I ordered this book for my brother who is a music professor and he really liked it and the CD that came with it.

an excellent book!

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Dvoøák by David Hurwitz, Amadeus Press, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, 2005, 200 ff.The author of this volume, David Hurwitz, is a versatile American musician, music critic and writer. He has a companion volume to this in the same series, Unlocking the Masters, on the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. This book is very much a listeners' guide. The text is arranged by musical genre and events in the composer's life are described incidentally. One extremely attractive feature for those who are unfamiliar with Dvoøák's music, or who know mainly the most popular works, is that there are two full-length CDs included with the book presenting recordings from 1951 onwards through to 2004. But these are not all historic recordings by any means, as several feature Charles Mackerras as conductor and the Panocha Quartet in chamber music. Dvoøák was a prolific composer of a seemingly fateful nine symphonies (like Beethoven, Schubert, Vaughan Williams, and Mahler), concertos for piano, for violin and for cello, all of which are standard pieces in the concert repertoire, religious music, operas, and much beautiful chamber music. His works typically exude a heartening optimism. The performers on the Supraphon CDs are mostly the Czech Philharmonic or Brno orchestras. The CDs feature many of the lesser known works of Dvoøák's. This book is well written and provides an invaluable companion to anyone wishing to explore the music by a composer who very much reflects the atmosphere of his native Bohemian homeland.

Dvorak: Romantic Music’s Most Versatile Genius by David Hurwitz.This 180-page book is in the same series as the author’s 200-page “Exploring Haydn: A Listener’s Guide to Music’s Boldest Innovator”. In both books Hurwitz seeks to release the two composers from neglect or, if not neglect entirely, a degree of misunderstanding leading to false valuations as composers of music. (It should be noted that Haydn and Dvorak would be grouped together by the wider “public”, and others who should know better, as composers of ”classical music” a classification that has worn along for generations and should have been ditched long ago in this reviewer’s opinion: music is music, define music as what you will and leave it at that!)We should be grateful to Hurwitz for undertaking this tricky task in our fickle age of gimmicks and gadgets; hopefully his endeavours will rescue some at least from the drudgery of stereotyping.Following a page of acknowledgments and two by way of introduction to the main text “A Note on the Music” there follow 5 pages under the heading Dvorak Timeline. This “table” of events should be referred to when reading the first chapter entitled “Dvorak in Focus” for in that chapter Hurwitz goes to some lengths in unravelling the Brahms/Dvorak synthesis.I have some sympathy with the Hurwitz approach; books on Brahms far outnumber those on Dvorak (I have practically everything written about the former including the massive four volume Kalbeck biography of Brahms in German and as yet to be translated into English.)It would be equally true to say that Dvorak’s published music far surpasses that of the published work of Brahms, though Brahms was renowned for destroying work that did not measure up to his expectations that may have included some dozen string quartets (he published only three quartets for strings).The Brahms/Dvorak relationship does indeed resemble in some respects the Haydn/Mozart friendship, though the age difference was far wider in the case of the latter.Dvorak wrote music in all genres (Brahms avoided opera). Brahms was a performer at soloist level on pianoforte and would present to the public many of his own works for that instrument. Dvorak was highly proficient on the violin and by all accounts was no mean pianist. But as Hurwitz rightly points out, there has been some prejudice in the assessment of Dvorak’s music involving the pianoforte. This is quite unjustified: compare his late piano quintet Op. 81 with the Brahms early f minor piano quintet Op.34 (rendered by the composer as a two piano, four hands (Op.34b), and an unpublished string quintet).An interesting aside, referring back to the Haydn; on page 82 of that book, Hurwitz states: “One of the very greatest writers on Haydn, British musicologist Donald Francis Tovey, . . .”In common with we ordinary mortals, Tovey could sometimes make a gaff or two, as for example with his assessment of the Haydn string quartet Op. 76/6 (Essays & Lectures on Music, OUP 1949 p.64.) And in the present volume it would be well to accept the Hurwitz analyses of the Symphony No. 8 (formerly No. 4) in G rather than to dwell upon Tovey’s puerile dismissal of this masterpiece. (Essays in Musical Analysis OUP 1935 Symphonies II, p.101.)Hurwitz covers Dvorak’s music under appropriate sections and in remarkable detail in view of the book’s overall size. This could make difficult reading especially for those the author is trying to convince as to the composer’s worth. But don’t be put off; acquaint yourself with the lesser known works of Dvorak—you should be well rewarded.Unfortunately, neither this volume nor the Hyadn in the same series contain an inddex. (Incidentally Haydn is scarcely mentioned in the Dvorak treatise, thought Mozart crops up all over the many pages!)Included with the book are two CDs representing a good cross-section from Dvorak’s output.

Der Autor wird gerade durch seinen YouTube-Kanal bekannt, auf dem er immer wieder durch die Empfehlung von Einspielungen überrascht, die außerordentlich gelungen und dennochweithin unbekannt geblieben sind. Der dort gezeigte Enthusiamus ist außerordentlich unterhaltsam, aber das ausgewogene, differenzierte Urteil ist Hurwitz' Sache nicht.Im vorliegenden Werk wird etwa ständig gegen Brahms geschossen: Dvoraks 6. sollte öfter statt der "over-exposed" 2. Symphonie von Brahms aufgeführt werden, die 3. Brahms lehne sich an die 5. Dvorak an(!)) oder das Dvoraksche Kammermusikschaffen sei dem von Brahms an Originalität überlegen. Als könnte man Dvoraks Musik nur auf Kosten die der Zeitgenossen großartig finden. Auch will das Buch zu viel in einem (dies gilt auch für das Sibelius-Werk des Autors). Alle Opern, Orchesterwerke, Chorwerke kommen in zweiseitig Werkportraits vor. Wieder ist der Enthusiamus ansteckend; aber es geht praktisch nie wirklich in die Tiefe, und der Informationsgehalt ist erschreckend gering. Gemessen am hohen Preis (auch bei mir lag keine CD bei), ist dies deutlich zu teuer. Ich empfehle die Dvorak-Biographie bei Fayard und die Werkportraits in der Cambridge- und Oxford-Serie.