Dvorak's New World Symphony?

I like this piece considerably.

It's very romantic, very accessible, the melodies are beautiful and memorable, and, although the guy was Czech, it does have a very American feel to it. One could say that this piece was the predecessor for composers like Charles Ives or Aaron Copland.

What do you guys think? I personally enjoy the third movement the most. The Scherzo

I absolutely adore the first movement, unlike just about everyone else I know who only mention the second and third...I think it stands as a precurser to a lot of what we consider to be modern film style music; brilliant.

Then there are those who abhor the piece.

The second movement is the one I find sublime, and I enjoy the scherzo. The outer movements leave me flat though, for some reason.

My favorite is the last, it's so energetic ans so well orchestrated!

THE "New World's melody" sounds too much a cliché...I heard it too much perhaps!

Well "New World" wasn't really all that cliche back then, though. Frankly I think the title is a very good representation of the piece.

That's one of the things I hate about overusing something beautiful: people get tired of it. In the 70s and 80s everybody played Pachelbel's Canon about a billion times, until everyone was sick of it. The only thing that saved that piece for me was hearing it performed as it was MEANT to be played - at about crotchet=80 (not 40), on period instruments. It's a completely different piece.

I've never even heard that, I'm surprised to say.

Wow, what a coincidence... I just saw this performed last weekend, and I'd heard Largo before, but wow. I love this piece. I've always loved largo, but I finally heard how brilliant the whole thing is. I really liked scherzo a lot, and the whole thing was interesting to hear the American sound to it. He was apparently a big influence on the American greats and I could finally hear that in the music.

The music is good, but I think it has been overplayed, I prefer his 6,7,8 symphonies. And I adore his "american" Quartet

Beethoven's fifth symphony can't be played enough. :D

As for the topic; I don't usually like Dvorak too much, and this symphony is no exception. The 7th on the other hand...

Beethoven fifth symphony as a whole is not overplayed, it's first 4 second is

I think Dvorak was great in his symphonic writing. The fourth movement of the ninth symphony is the one I love out of all four movements. He wrote the piece whilst in America, I guess that's why it has a US feel to it but there are a lot of Czech and European folk bits in there are well. Though that Jaws theme at the beginning of the fourth movement, I don't think that was folk related! Maybe he saw into the future and saw the film ... maybe........

...or JTW just copied the theme for jaws...

anyway, NWS is my personal favorite. the horn parts especially are beautifully written (i know i'm biased. shhh. don't tell). the orchestration, the clearly thematic material, and the clarity of the images portrayed make this work so great. it's very accessible and very enjoyable.

There was a period in my life when Dvorak's 9th was one of the few pieces I had available to me. I was playing the old Zork games (the ones that only have text, some of you might have been born when they were made :D ). Now whenever I paly Zork again, I think of Dvorak. Or when I hear Dvorak's 9th, I think of Zork.

Anyway, I absolutely adore Dvoark's aural world. I recently had the privelege of hearing his Symphonic Variations live in Concert. While not nearly as gripping as the Symphony, just hearing his sound made me ache. I bemoaned, "Why can't people write music like that today!".

I adore the outer movements of the smyphony more than the inner movements. can bring the music to my mind with just the flip of a mental switch. I love the rather aching pair of chords that he has before the final peroration in the finale. I just want to break down and gasp when I hear them, they tug so forcefully at my heart.

While I love many of Dvorak's other works (especially the 7th Symphony, I adore my LSO recording!), the 9th will always occupy the pride of place amongst them.

Truly, when I think of "From the New World", I think of a fantastic world full of drama, excitement, agony, and rejoicing.

Dvorak's thematic material in this piece is top-notch. My favorite being the main theme of the finale, and the folky jig right after.

This piece is definetely overplayed and abused.

It's not a very "meaty" piece, relying more on extended tunes and dynamite themes. It's too bad it gets programmed over and over at concerts. Most players I know are sick of it. This leads to boring performances.

It's still a classic.