Dvorak : Slavonic Dances Op72

Eight years after producing his first series, Dvorak wrote a further eight Slavonic Dances (1886) for four-hand piano. The outstanding success enjoyed by the first volume and the ensuing revenue led Berlin-based publisher Simrock to commission a further series of dances. Dvorak complied with his request, but only after a period of delay and a certain reluctance to do so. If the mood of the first series reflected joyful spontaneity with the use of fast tempos, the second series was more lyrical in tone and contained meditative passages which contrasted all the more sharply with pieces constructed on stirring dance rhythms. In his choice of typical dances which, in the first series, was essentially Czech, Dvorak in this case incorporated into his second series a broader Slavonic landscape: the south-Slav Odzemek [fast Wallachian male dance] and Kolo [round dance], the Ukrainian Dumka and Polish Mazurka [folk dance in triple metre] were complemented by the Czech Spacirka [promenade dance], Skocna and Sousedska. This title is part of the first Complete Critical Edition of Works by Antonin Dvorak.