Largo

Antonín Dvořák (1892-1904) was the most popular composer of the Czech national school and Symphony No.9 ‘From the New World’, composed in 1893 and premiered at Carnegie Hall (New York), is one of his most successful and performed works.

The second movement (Largo) is instantly appealing with its plaintive and sorrowful theme, one of Dvořák’s greatest musical creations, played by the cor anglais. During the composers three year stay in America (1892-95) he became homesick for his native Bohemia and the movement is often interpreted as an expression of his longing to return home.

This masterly transcription for double bass trio by Miloslav Gajdoš includes the main themes of the movement, creating an arrangement which is both magical and evocative. There is something of interest for each player with opportunities to display the rich sonorous qualities of the double bass and the transcription has been transposed into C major, a semitone lower than the original key.

Dvořák really admired African-American spirituals and melodies, especially their use of pentatonic scales and syncopations, and although he didn’t quote any original ones in the symphony stated: “It was my intention only to write in the spirit of these national American melodies…The motifs are my own, and some I brought with me. This is and remains Czech music.”