String Quartet F Major Op. 96 [American Quartet]

After a twelve-year interval, Dvo?ák once again turned his attention to the string quartet in summer 1893. He had been musical director in New York since autumn 1892 and spent the summer in Spillville (Iowa) where a group of Czech immigrants had settled, thus making him feel at home. The beautiful natural surroundings led him to write this unconventional string quartet in the tradition of Beethoven's 'Pastoral? - even down to the imitation of birdcalls. Since the first performances, certain rhythmic and melodic characteristics have been traced back to the influences of the folk music of Native Americans and African Americans, which led to the soon popular work being called the 'American Quartet?. For the first time since 1955, the quartet is once again being published in an Urtext edition. / 2 Violons, Alto Et Violoncelle

This piece was originally written for Violin and Piano and if the 'New World' Symphony and the 'American' String Quartet are the best-known products of Anton n Dvorak's years in the United States the little Sonatina in G major(sometimes called the 'Indian Lament' Sonatina) may well be the most obscure; yet it is a charming work that deserves better than its relegation to the learning books of young violinists. The Sonatina is in four movements:Allegro risoluto Larghetto Scherzo (molto vivace) and Allegro. The first movement's principal tune has a firm rhythmic spine its second tune a gentle plaintiveness; there is just a hint of Americanfolk music in the movement.The following Larghetto earned the Sonatina its nickname. The succession of its three melodies - one in G minor one in B flat major and one in G major - has to it the same wistfulness and thesame sudden brightening and then softening of mood that we hear in the famous slow movement of the 'New World' Symphony.The Scherzo takes the very first gesture of the Allegro risoluto as its starting-point. The finale isa substantial sonata-allegro movement with three wonderful themes: the opening syncopated idea in G major a subsidiary thought in E minor very dancelike and built around a repeating marcato cell and finally a rich tranquillomelody that closes the exposition. This adaptation for Flute and Piano by James Galway conveys all the spirit of the original.