Dvořák: Symphony No. 1 & Legends Op. 59, Nos. 1–5 – Gunzenhauser, Naxos (CD)

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Product Details

• UPC: 4891030502666
• Catalogue Number: 8.550266
• Brand/Label: Naxos
• Composer: Antonín Dvořák
• Ensembles: Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra · Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava)
• Conductor: Stephen Gunzenhauser
• Release Year: 1991 (recorded May 1990 and May 1991)
• Genre: Classical – Symphony/Orchestral
• Country of Producing: Germany

Product Features

• Format: Audio CD, DDD (fully digital recording), Stereo
• Total playing time: 69:13
• Cover artwork: Prague in 1840 (Topographikon)

Overview

Dvořák's Symphony No. 1 has a genuinely strange history — he wrote it as a young, unknown composer, submitted it to a competition, lost the manuscript entirely, and the work wasn't rediscovered and performed until decades after his death. Hearing it now, you can tell it's early Dvořák: less confident than the symphonies he'd later become famous for, clearly working through Beethoven and Schubert's influence, but with genuine melodic instincts already showing through, especially in the long Adagio molto. The Legends, Op. 59, are a different proposition entirely — mature, assured orchestral miniatures with the folk-inflected charm Dvořák built his reputation on, originally composed for piano duet before he orchestrated them himself. Hearing the two works together gives a real sense of the distance between Dvořák's first symphonic attempt and his fully developed orchestral voice. Stephen Gunzenhauser leads two different Slovak-based ensembles across sessions a year apart, with consistent energy throughout. A genuinely interesting disc for anyone curious about Dvořák's lesser-known early symphony alongside a set of his most charming shorter orchestral pieces.

Interesting Facts

• Dvořák's Symphony No. 1 was submitted to a composition competition and subsequently lost; the manuscript wasn't rediscovered until 1923, decades after the composer's death, and it received its premiere only in 1936.
• The Legends, Op. 59, were originally composed for piano four hands before Dvořák orchestrated them himself for full orchestra.
• This recording spans two ensembles and two separate years — the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in 1990 for the symphony, and the Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1991 for the Legends.
• Symphony No. 1 is sometimes nicknamed "The Bells of Zlonice" after a town where Dvořák lived as a young musician, though the symphony itself carries no explicit programmatic content.
• The Legends' folk-inflected melodic character reflects Dvořák's lifelong engagement with Czech and Slavic musical idioms.

Track Listing

Symphony No. 1 in C Minor

1. Allegro – 13:51 · 2. Adagio molto – 14:53 · 3. Allegretto – 9:52 · 4. Finale: Allegretto – 12:50

Legends, Op. 59, Nos. 1–5

1. Allegretto – 3:27 · 6. Molto moderato – 4:02 · 7. Allegro giusto – 4:17 · 8. Molto maestoso – 6:07 · 9. Allegro giusto – 4:34

Publishers

Naxos, part of the Naxos Music Group, recorded at the Reduta Concert Hall, Bratislava (producers Martin Sauer, Günter Appenheimer, music notes Keith Anderson). Distributed by MVD Music and Video Distribution GmbH, Unterhaching/Munich, Germany.

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