Henle, Günter Antonín Dvorák - Slawische Tänze op. 46 für Klavier zu vier Händen

In 1878 Dvorák was commissioned to write something along the lines of Brahms’s “Hungarian Dances”; but using the sounds of his native country. The resulting eight “Slavonic Dances” led to his international breakthrough. “Furiant”; “polka”; “soudeská”: all are written with consummate mastery and dazzling formal sophistication. Although the “Slavonic Dances” also became popular in orchestral arrangement, they were originally written for piano four-hands. Yet the musical text Dvorák released for publication was anything but ideal. Now, to honor the centennial of his death, we are presenting his original version with a detailed commentary on the work’s sources and editorial problems. The fingering, always a delicate matter in duet playing, has been entrusted to Andreas Groethuysen, with results that will prove a boon to performers everywhere. ...