ANTONIN DVORAK Quintet in A major, Op. 81
Claire Bourg, violin
Maria Ioudenitch, violin
Kunbo Xu, viola
Sydney Lee, cello
Ying Li, piano

Performed on Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Field Concert Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia

Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major op. 81 came into being as the result of an attempt to revise an earlier work. In 1872 he had produced his Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 5. This work was not to Dvořák’s liking, so he destroyed the original manuscript shortly after its premiere. A friend had saved a copy, and fifteen years later, the composer had second thoughts. Feeling there was something to be salvaged in the Op. 5 work, he retrieved the copy to try his hand at cutting and reshaping it.

Unfortunately Dvořák’s efforts were in vain. The early quintet, apparently, would not cooperate. After several months he abandoned it again. However, his labors seem to have prompted fresh ideas, and once freed of the effort to repurpose old material, he started work on a completely new quintet, completing it in a rush of creative inspiration over a period of six weeks. In January 1888, the Op. 81 quintet was premiered in Prague. Today it is considered one of the masterpieces of the piano quintet form.

Dvořák is known for incorporating the flavor of Czech folk music in his compositions. In this quintet, he borrowed folk styles and forms rather than specific folk melodies, notably in the inner movements. The second movement is based on the form of the Dumka, an eastern-European slow folk ballad or lament. The third movement is a Furiant, a fast-paced Bohemian folk dance.
—Grace Asunción

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