Dvořák: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 10, B 34 (with Score)

Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 10, B 34 (with Score) Composed: April 1873 - 4 July 1873 (revision 1887, 1889) Conductor: István Kertész Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra 00:00 1. Allegro moderato (E-flat major) 11:38 2. Adagio molto, tempo di marcia (C-sharp minor - D-flat major) 27:47 3. Allegro vivace (E-flat major) In terms of his compositional development, the third symphony is a typical representative of the period in which Dvořák had extricated himself from Wagnerian and Lisztian Neo-Romanticism and was well on the way towards finding his own distinctive compositional style. While one cannot help noticing the strong Wagnerian influences, primarily in the instrumentation (the use of the harp, richly divided strings), and an unsettled approach to the cyclical form (the symphony has no scherzo movement), the work does bear traits of the kind of original musical language Dvořák would use in the future, namely a variety of musical ideas, broad, arching melodies and an atmosphere of joyful optimism in the closing movement. As in a number of the composer’s other works, here as well he applies the principle of reminiscence, or thematic association, within individual movements. Unlike the previous Symphony in B flat major, we will note a considerable shift towards thematic economy and a more direct approach to thematic treatment. The symphony was written following a period when the composer had attained his first successes, in particular, after the performance of the Hymn “The Heirs of the White Mountain”. These two works have in common not only their time of origin and prevailing key, but also the expression of nobility and sublimity typifying the related thematic material of both works. Dvořák’s biographer Otakar Sourek even finds in the symphony “an expression of the same sense of patriotism and fervent interest in the future of the nation”. https://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/work/symphony-no-3/