BMW Classics

^{Antonín Dvořák}
Slavonic Dances Op 46, Nos 1 & 3
_{✒️ 1878| ⏰ 8 minutes}

No 1 in C major: Furiant
No 3 in A-flat major: Polka

Antonín Dvořák was relatively unknown at the time he was commissioned to write the Slavonic Dances in 1878. The German composer Johannes Brahms had spotted that Dvořák had won several prizes, and suggested his publishers contact the younger Czech. They did, requesting he write Bohemian dances in the style of Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances.

Opus 46 was first published as a set of piano duets for amateur players. Their popularity spread like wildfire, and soon Dvořák re-wrote them to be played by an orchestra, and even composed a second set (called Opus 72) in 1886. His seat in the musical firmament was confirmed.

At the time of Dvořák’s birth in 1841, Czech people had no real country of their own; the regions where they lived – Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia – were part of the Austrian Empire. It was during his lifetime that these regions fought for political independence, a sentiment which filtered through to the arts community. Composers started wanting musical independence too, and to no longer be overshadowed by the German and Italian styles of music popular at that time. They began using folk tunes and dance rhythms, the beginnings of musical nationalism.

Dvořák’s life-long passion was the Czech national folk tradition, and while he wrote a lot of Czech-sounding compositions, in fact, he hardly ever used any actual folk melodies in his music. He was a sort of magpie, stealing elements from his native musical heritage, most notably the rhythms, but writing the melodies himself. His Slavonic Dances are no different , but that does not belie their heritage.

The set of dances literally flies off the score with an untamed Furiant, for which dancers – and the orchestra – have to be on their toes in more ways than one as it constantly shifts gears. The Polka is a type of dance which was originated by peasants, but here its usual ‘quick-quick-slow’ rhythm is heard on occasional blasts, enveloped by a gentle melody.

_{Note by Sarah Breeden}

Antonín Dvořák
_{1841 to 1904 (Bohemia, now Czech Republic)}

Today, Antonín Dvořák is celebrated as one of Europe’s most forward-thinking, idiosyncratic and accomplished composers, but he came from relatively humble origins. Born in 1841 in a small village near Prague, his father was an innkeeper and a butcher who encouraged him to take up the violin at six years old.

Having studied the organ in Prague as a teenager, Dvořák wrote his first symphony at the age of 24, subtitled The Bells of Zlonice after a village he lived in as a child. This love for his home country echoes throughout his work, which often makes use of Slavic rhythms, melodies and folklore. He continued to compose with moderate success until 1875, when he was catapulted to fame by a number of major works he composed that year, including his Symphony No 5 and Serenade for Strings.

Moving to the United States in 1892, he was appointed Director of the National Conservatory, one of few music conservatoires to accept women and students from ethnic minorities at that time. Dvořák wrote a series of newspaper articles during this time advocating African American and Native American music, and these influences can be heard in his famous Symphony No 9, ‘From the New World’.

_{Composer profile by Sarah Breeden}

^{Camille Saint-Saëns}
Introduction and Rondo capriccioso in A minor Op 28
_{✒️1863 | ⏰10 minutes}

Leia Zhu violin

Camille Saint-Saëns was brilliant at many things – a composer, virtuoso pianist, multi-linguist and pretty nifty at archaeology and astronomy – but he wasn’t a proficient violinist. He had a love for the instrument though, and wrote a number of pieces for it including the Violin Concerto in A major, composed for one Pablo de Sarasate, wielder of wicked bow action and phenomenal fingering. In 1859 a precocious 15-year-old Sarasate approached the 24-year-old Saint-Saëns in the hope that he would compose something for him. Saint-Saëns was rather flattered and, after the Violin Concerto, he went on to compose the even more challenging Introduction and Rondo capriccioso for the Spaniard. This mini-concerto has become one of the most performed works of brilliance beloved by virtuoso violinists.

Saint-Saëns composed the work with Sarasate’s style of playing in mind and it fitted the violinist like a glove, with its Spanish dance feel and glorious melodies. It delighted Parisian audiences of the time, who appreciated a musical amuse-bouche. But it is so much more than that and pleased sophisticates too, even Saint-Saëns’s contemporary, composer Claude Debussy – he went on to make four-hand piano arrangement. (No love was lost between the two composers. Debussy was heard to complain ‘I have a horror of sentimentality and cannot forget that its name is Saint-Saëns’. Saint- Saëns, in turn described Debussy’s music as ‘noise’!)

Don’t be fooled by the slow Introduction, gorgeous though it is: it is the prequal to the fireworks to come. The music’s Spanish dance character is immediately heard conjuring up images of swaggering matadors to the backdrop of the colours of the sun bouncing off the Spanish vista. Full of violin-type effects with head-spinning, lightning-quick running passages, double stops, scurries in the upper echelons of the range and sumptuous melodies on the lower strings, the piece ends with a wonderful virtuosic and dazzling flourish. Watch out for sparks flying off Leia’s fingers!

_{Note by Sarah Breeden}

Camille Saint-Saëns
_{1835 (France) to 1921 (Algeria)}

You may not realise it, but you would certainly recognise some of Saint-Saëns’ music. Remember BBC TV’s Jonathan Creek? The theme tune – the demonic Danse macabre by Saint-Saëns. The 1978 pop song ‘If I had Words’ used in cute-piglet fest Babe (1995)? The tune is from his Organ Symphony. Heard of ‘The Dying Swan’? It's actually ‘The Swan’ from Carnival of the Animals, one of the most famous works often performed at concerts for children, and a firm favourite to this day. During his lifetime Saint-Saëns produced a whole plethora of works – operas, symphonies, concertos, and a cornucopia of smaller pieces – but it is just these few works that endure, alongside his Cello Concerto and opera Samson and Delilah.

A child-genius from practically day one, Parisian Camille Saint-Saëns gave composer Amadeus Mozart – another famous music prodigy – a run for his money. He seemed to excel at everything, especially music, had perfect pitch from aged two, composed his first piece aged three and gave his first professional performance aged ten. This is like being taken on at Arsenal FC or attending university at the same age. After that he never stopped performing and composing practically until the day he died, and he lived a long life.

It wasn’t all wine and roses though. Tragedy struck when both his two sons died in infancy which shattered his marriage, and he never quite fulfilled his potential, or rather lived up to other people’s expectations. He was out of kilter with his contemporaries who were pushing the musical envelope with impressionism and he was often tarred with being thought of as rather conservative. A little harsh as he often promoted the music of up-and-coming composers. There is a lot to admire of this organist, conductor, critic and teacher and worth digging deep into his music.

_{Composer profile by Sarah Breeden}

^{Ayanna Witter-Johnson}
DreamCity
_{✒️2020 | ⏰4 minutes}

LSO East London Academy Young Musicians

DreamCity is a vibrant, energetic and rhythmically pulsing song without words for string orchestra.  Inspired by conversations with the young string players of the LSO East London Academy (ELA) on their personal experiences of the lockdowns that occurred in 2020, I drew upon the themes of personal creativity, perseverance, uncertainty, dreams, dance and playing games.

The process of creating this piece was unique to us all. I first created a series of 34 individual fragments that reflected the themes above. These fragments, composed for Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello and Double Bass, were then recorded by five musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra at LSO St Luke's. From these recordings, I created a series of 'backing tracks' for each of the 34 fragments.

With the support of the five LSO Members as mentors, LSO ELA players learned and then recorded the fragments at home. They created a total of 480 recordings that I then used as raw material to build the piece. 

As a collective, I felt that we were all linked through our experiences of living in one of the world's most active and engaging cities, physically and culturally, and I wanted to reflect that in the energy of the piece, combining the elements of classical lyricism and edgy inner-city vibe.

It’s an incredibly exciting development to be able to perform DreamCity for a live audience. Alongside the wonderful recording, this will be a fantastic experience for the young musicians to now enjoy the piece in this way.

_{Note by Ayanna Witter-Johnson}

Ayanna Witter-Johnson
_{b 1980s}

Some composers defy succinct definition, and shoehorning Ayanna Witter-Johnson into a tidy profile is no mean feat. Her music blurs boundaries between classical and alternative RnB – two genres that rarely coexist – and you are just as likely to find her singing while playing the cello, as you are to find her poring over an orchestral score. This remarkable confluence of styles stems from a childhood that was saturated with music of every shape and colour. ‘My dad and uncle are DJs and my mum loves to sing,’ says Ayanna, ‘so I embraced a pretty healthy diet of classical piano and cello studies while absorbing pop culture, soul, jazz, reggae, hip-hop and RnB music throughout my childhood and until now.’

Witter-Johnson was just three years old when her mother spotted an aptitude for music and took her to her first piano lesson, and she took up the cello as her second instrument (now very much her first) when she was 13. She went on to graduate with a first from both Trinity Laban and the Manhattan School of Music, and in 2009 was featured as an Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre. Since then, she has been commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, Kronos Quartet and London Symphony Orchestra, collaborated with Anoushka Shankar and Courtney Pine, and been nominated for a MOBO award.

She cites Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder among her greatest influences as readily as she does Bach and Debussy, and while many of her works chronicle her experience as a female artist in the 21st century, she is also no stranger to tackling issues of social oppression and globalisation. Her music is impossible to label (and why should we?) but its guiding principle is one of authenticity and personal truth.

_{Composer profile by Jo Kirkbride}

^{Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky}
The Nutcracker – Ballet: Act II
_{✒️1892 | ⏰45 minutes}

A perennial Christmas favourite, The Nutcracker is arguably the most famous ballet and the most performed. It is a testament to Tchaikovsky’s genius that it is full of glorious, hum-able tunes recognisable from multiple cultural sources (those of a certain age will remember the Cadbury’s advert for fruit and nut chocolate), and reworked into several musical genres including a famous Duke Ellington jazz version. 

Commissioned by the Director of the Mariinsky Imperial Theatres, it is based on the children’s fairy story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by German author ETA Hoffman, The ballet’s conception was rather fraught, however. Tchaikovsky was not at all keen on the choreographer Marius Petipa's interpretations – a fan of Hoffman, he felt that Petipa’s version did not live up to the original. And he was going through an emotional trauma at the time, the combined result of continual attacks from St Petersburg critics, the rejection by the Tsar of his latest opera The Queen of Spades, and the disastrous breakdown of his well-documented friendship with the wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck, and his experience living with depression. As if this were not enough, his beloved sister, Sasha died suddenly. 

It is a wonder, then, that a single note was ever written, but out of darkness comes light: Tchaikovsky poured all his love for his sister into the role of Clara, with fond memories of shared Christmases past. At last, the ballet started to take shape. Listen carefully, though, and there are moments of melancholy, most notably in the 'Pas de Deux' and in the more sombre moments of the ‘Waltz of the Flowers’.

The LSO performs the second act. Here's the story so far…

Clara and Fritz are celebrating Christmas with their family. Amongst their many gifts, Clara is given a nutcracker shaped like a man. Her annoying brother breaks it and she is devastated. At midnight magic fills the air: the tree grows to an unbelievable height, mice fill the room and the nutcracker becomes the size of a man! A battle ensues between the mice, led by the Mouse King, and the Nutcracker who leads the charge of toy soldiers. To save the Nutcracker, Clara throws a well-aimed shoe at the King – the Nutcracker is victorious! In gratitude he takes her on a magical journey to the Kingdom of Sweets, and this is where we join them.  

The Enchanted Palace Of The Kingdom Of Sweets sets the scene with promises of a bright dolly mixture of delights. Then follows Divertissement, where Clara is entertained by sweets from around the world, each characterised by a different dance:

Chocolate (Spanish Dance) – bright trumpets and castanets represent sunny Spanish shores;

Coffee (Arabian Dance) – muted strings, cor anglais and bass clarinets all contribute to conjuring up hazy shades of the mysterious aromatic desert;

Tea (Chinese Dance) – a cheeky duo of a busy piccolo and an insistent contrabassoon keeps the Chinese dancers on their toes;

Candy canes (Russian Dance) – a trepak, which is a lively Ukrainian folk dance traditionally performed by men.

In Dance of the Reed-Pipes – also known as Dance of the Mirlitons – cakes are offered to the illustrious guests: flutes are used here because the French word ‘mirliton’ means a toy wind instrument, and is also a pastry filled with whipped cream – a happy combination!

Mother Gigogne is a similar character to the old woman who lived in a shoe with far too many children. She is represented by two Parisian street songs in Mother Gigogne and the Clowns.

After a brief wind chorale, harp flourishes introduce the famous Waltz of the Flowers. The Pas de Deux danced by the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Prince gives away Tchaikovsky’s melancholic mood with a yearning theme, soulfully played on the cellos.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy comes next, in which Tchaikovsky uses the celesta, a keyboard instrument which had only recently been invented at the time of composition. Its name comes from its ‘celestial’ or ‘unearthly’ sound. Finishing with the Final Waltz, the perfect way to end a visit to a dream-world before Clara, and the audience, are whisked back to reality.

_{Note by Sarah Breeden}

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
_{1840 to 1893 (Russia)}

Think of Tchaikovsky and the man of myth may spring to mind: the tortured soul, unable to live life as a gay man, living with depression, his death surrounded by intrigue. Much is written of his enigmatic relationship with his long-term benefactor – business woman Nadezhda von Meck – who demanded that they never meet, not to mention manic episodes and a disastrous (for both parties) marriage to an infatuated student.

But that’s not the whole story. Similarly to Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky was born into a middle-class family and had a talent for music, but he was no child-genius. At his family’s wishes he studied law, got a job in the Ministry of Justice and was pretty successful. But the lure of music was too great and he eventually enrolled in the St Petersburg Conservatory.  

By 1870 he had penned the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, his earliest piece to become a firm favourite, and from then on he never looked back. Once he started composing in earnest, the most memorable, well-known rich, beautiful music flowed out of him. The Nutcracker is just one of three best-loved ballets that he wrote, alongside Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. Eugene Onegin (which also includes wonderful dance music) and The Queen of Spades are opera-house favourites. His 1812 Overture (that’s the one sometimes heard at outdoor concerts with cannon-fire) never fails to impress and his Violin Concerto and Symphony No 6, 'Pathétique' are never far from concert listings or Spotify playlists.

Tchaikovsky poured his troubled soul into his expressive music. It is no mystery that his music has long touched people’s lives and continues to delight, and give solace and pleasure.

_{Composer profile by Sarah Breeden}