RELEASE OF DVOŘÁK’S COMPLETE WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

On 23 August 2024, Supraphon released a double album with Antonín Dvořák’s complete works for violin and piano played by Czech Philharmonic concertmaster Jiří Vodička sensitively accompanied by pianist and Czech Philharmonic CEO David Mareček. This unique recording offers nearly an hour and three quarters of music, and enjoyable listening is assured by not only the power of Dvořák’s works, but also the virtuosity of the two players. Listeners will get a special chance to immerse themselves fully into Dvořák’s musical world, where there is room for joy, love, harmony, and also for melancholy and hope. The recording is enhanced by the beautiful acoustics in Dvořák Hall at Prague’s Rudolfinum. The album is being released in a 2-CD set and in digital formats.

Dvořák never repeated himself; in every work, he created a different musical world. It would be hard to find another composer capable of such diversity within a single musical genre. After the earliest of the pieces, the Romance, he sent his publisher Simrock the Mazurek, which he dedicated to the Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate. The almost meditative Nocturne first appeared in a string quartet and then a quintet before being heard for the first time as an independent piece in arrangements including one for violin and piano. The Violin Sonata in F major, a chamber music pendant to Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, clearly took inspiration from Brahms’s First Violin Sonata. And there is more: the virtuosic Capriccio, the haunting Romantic Pieces, the Slavonic Dance No. 2 presented here uniquely in the composer’s own arrangement, the delightful Humoresque arranged by Fritz Kreisler… and a work bearing the opus number 100, which Dvořák deliberately reserved for his Sonatina dedicated to two of his children; though simple, it is no less individual than any of the composer’s other mature opuses.

Jiří Vodička is known for his highly individual, heartfelt playing and for imprinting his personality on every work he plays. Critics describe his musicianship with phrases like feeling of supreme depth without sentimental pathos, soulful interpretation, or nonchalant elegance. He plays regularly with Czech and foreign orchestras and is one of the most talented artists on the Czech classical music scene.

David Mareček is a professionally trained pianist, and he performs with well-known Czech and foreign classical musicians. His best-known projects have included a joint video recording with the world-famous cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a successful recording album with the opera singer Jan Martiník, and a critically acclaimed concert tour with yet another wonderful cellist, Michaela Fukačová.

Jiří Vodička and David Mareček are appearing together in the concert project “Antonín Dvořák – Unknown and Known”.