Two pohádky [fairy tales].
Suk’s Pohádka started life as incidental music to a play (a mixture of fairy tale and mythology) by Julius Zeyer entitled Radúz and Mahulena; music that the composer thought sufficiently highly of to transform it into an orchestral suite.
Janáček’s Pohádka is a three movement piece for cello and piano based (definitely in spirit rather than letter!) on an long poem – The Tale of Tsar Berendyey – by the Russian Vasily Zhukovsky.
Pohádky
1. About the constant love of Radúz and Mahulena and their trials
Adagio, ma non troppo 0:00
2. Intermezzo. Playing at swans and peacocks
A la Polka 10:41
3. Intermezzo. Funeral music,
Andante, sostenuto 14:29
4. Runa’s curse and how it was broken by true love
Allegro appassionato 21:28
00:00 Con moto
05:07 Con moto
09:35 Allegro
(Cello part first, piano score starts page 8)
Seventh Symphony in d
Many would argue that Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony is his best. As befits its key, it’s a dark, stormy work with none of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies’ relaxed Slavonic joy in nature.
Dvořák’s growing international reputation is reflected in the work being written on a commission from no less an august body than the London Philharmonic Society who had commissioned Beethoven’s Ninth (also in d!); and it was in London that the work was given its first performance.
The composer’s note on the autograph relating the occasion when the opening subject of the symphony occurred to him.
00:15 Allegro maestoso
11:41 Poco adagio
20:55 Scherzo: Vivace — Poco meno mosso
28:17 Finale: Allegro
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The Art of Listening 