Česká filharmonie, Václav Neumann – Dvořák: Symfonie č. 4-6

The output of nine symphonies by the foremost Czech Neo-Romantic composer Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904) has ranked continuously, since its completion to this day, amongst the constituent pillars of the European symphonic repertoire as a whole. The sheer strength of Dvořák's melodic invention has never ceased to enthrall experts and the general public alike. After all, it was found breathtaking even by more than a few of the composer's prominent contemporaries (as evidenced by Brahms' statement: "Dvořák's themes for his subordinate ideas would easily supply me with enough material for principal subjects in my own work..."). Nowadays - after the demise of unsubstantiated and unjust speculations concerning Dvořák's "simple-mindedness" as regards compositional technique, theories which became fairly widespread in Bohemia at one time due to the largely ideological impact of ultra-leftist scholar (and politician) Zdeněk Nejedlý, yet which can be readily proven false when tested against any…