Dvorak Symphony 7

Brahms and Dvorák were contemporaries. The sixth symphony bears many resemblances to Brahms' second symphony, and the seventh symphony was directly inspired by a performance of Brahms' Third Symphony that Dvorák heard. So, the general sensibility is Romantic, melodies are expansive, as rich in color as possible, and where long phrasing arcs are most important.


FIRST MOVEMENT: Like the first movement of Brahms' Symphony no. 3 (if you don't know this piece, please listen to it, for it is one of the jewels of the orchestral repertoire for clarinet), the compound meter and long phrases suggest smoothness. The challenge here is to play in perfect rhythm AND be very musical. In the opening phrases, the traditional phrasing of "play louder when the melody goes higher, softer as it goes lower" works very well. Sixteenth notes should sound flowing but never fast or panicked. Overall tempo is around 69 for the dotted quarter.


SECOND MOVEMENT: When I played this piece, the tempo for the slow movement excerpt was in the 60–66 range for the quarter. The second line (the last five beats of the solo) should be played strictly in rhythm, because the orchestration is thicker, but in the first line, the scoring is lighter, and the player should play expressively. Two measures of steadily building energy, followed by expressive "sighing" figures in the third measure. In the fourth measure, choose an appropriate peak for the crescendo (probably the BEGINNING of beat three or four) and practice it consistently that way, and would caution against accenting beat 2 in that measure.