Music:
Béla Bartók: The Violin Concerto No.2
Antonín Dvořák: Slavonic Dances op.72 (second series)

Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2, Sz 112 is a work composed in 1937-1938.
The composer's initial idea was to write a theme and variations, but Székely preferred a more classical concertante form. Bartók therefore bowed to his friend's wishes while keeping the writing of the variations in the second and last movements.
The duration of the composition, extending over nearly two years, is unusual for the musician. The first sketches date from 1936 while the final version was completed in 1938. In the meantime, he composed his Sonata for two pianos and percussion as well as his Divertimento for strings. His writing is contemporary with a difficult period for the composer, with in particular, a deterioration of the political situation in Hungary which led the artist to consider exile.

Antonín Dvořák's Slavonic Dances are among his most popular works. These are two series, each containing eight pieces with no tonal or thematic relationship between them. Both were first written for piano four-hands, before being orchestrated by the musician himself.
The composer was inspired to write these dances by Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances at the suggestion of Fritz Simrock, the composer's editor. Dvořák himself orchestrated five of the Brahmsian dances.
The Czech musician has been inspired on many occasions by the folk music of his country or other regions. In particular, he had written Scottish Dances in 1877. His Slavonic Dances are not, however, simple transcriptions, as Brahms had done for some of the first Hungarian Dances. Moreover, unlike the latter, Dvořák was fully responsible for their orchestration.

This Slavic inspiration is relatively new, compared to Hungarian music, already represented by Brahms, Franz Liszt and even Hector Berlioz (Hungarian March).

Slavonic Dances, Op. 46
This first series was born in 1878 and was an enormous and prompt success. It is made up of original pieces composed on popular dance rhythms. Their harmonization is simple and the classical orchestration is based on the contrasts of the registers of the large orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, a small percussion ensemble and the string quintet. With this, Dvořák arrives at an orchestration that is as varied and multicolored as possible. The first and last pieces are Furiants, energetic dances.

Slavonic Dances, Op. 72
After the success of the first series, the publisher commissioned Dvořák to write another work of the same kind. The composer complied, not without hesitation. The year 1886 (8 years later) saw the birth of a second series of Slavic dances, of the same importance as the first. In the odd numbers, we find the "large orchestra" of the first series, while the other pieces use a simplified orchestra, without trombone (Nos. 2, 4, 6 and 8) or trumpet (Nos. 2 and 4); An innovation: the use of the bell in the eighth dance.

Direction: Daniel Harding (Music Conductor)
Cast: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Isabelle Faust (Violin)