Dvořák - String Quintet No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97

Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) String Quintet No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 Composed in 1893; premiered in 1894 in New York City Performed by András Keller (b. 1960), violin; János Pilz, violin; Zoltán Gál (1964-2023), viola; Anna Deeva, viola, and Judit Szabó, cello Recorded June 1994 at the Salle de Musique, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland 0:00 I. Allegro non tanto 8:38 II. Scherzo 14:00 III. Larghetto 23:15 IV. Allegro giusto Dvořák composed his String Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 97, in the summer of 1893 during his vacation in the Czech immigrant farming community of Spillville, Iowa. Having just completed his "American" String Quartet (Op. 96) in a matter of days, Dvořák began sketching the quintet, scored for a standard string quartet with an extra viola, three days later, finishing the entire piece in just over a month. The work is infused with the atmosphere of his American surroundings, incorporating pentatonic melodies and syncopated rhythms that reflect the traditional music and drumming styles of Native American performance groups he encountered in Iowa. At the same time, because Dvořák played the instrument himself, the addition of the second viola imparts a rich timbre to the ensemble, blending his homesickness for Bohemia with the inspiration of the American Midwest.