Piano Quintet No. 2 (Dvořák)

Music#

The new quintet is a mixture of Dvořák’s personal form of expressive lyricism with elements from Czech folk music. Characteristically, those elements include styles and forms of song and dance, but not actual folk tunes; Dvořák created original melodies in the authentic folk style. The third movement is marked as a Furiant which is a fast Bohemian folk dance. The cello and viola alternate a rhythmic pizzicato underneath the main tune of the first violin. The slower trio section of the scherzo is also derived from the furiant theme, with the piano and violin alternating between the main melodies. The fast Bohemian folk dance returns and the movement finishes aggressively, setting up for the polka in the last movement. The Finale is light-hearted and spirited. The second violin leads the theme into a fugue in the development section. In the coda, Dvořák writes tranquillo for a chorale-like section, which features the theme of the movement this time in augmentation and played pianissimo, before the pace quickens with an accelerando, and the quintet rushes to the finish.

External links#

• by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format
• , live performance with Anna Balakerskaia, piano, Ricardo Cyncynates, violin 1, Zino Bogachek, violin 2, Natasha Bogachek, viola, Misha Quint, cello.