Dvorak's Complete Slavonic Dances played by Grete and Josef Dichler, piano four hands

Dvorak's two sets of Slavonic Dances are, quite simply, wonderful musical miniatures. Admiring Brahms' Hungarian Dances, Dvorak set out to do the same, albeit with a decidedly Slavic twist. So successful was Dvorak with the first set, op. 46, that publishers, and music lovers, were able to coax op. 72 from him without loss of inspiration or gift for melody. Absolutely delightful stuff!

Most of us know these dances in their usual presentation for full orchestra. Curiously, few recordings have been made in their original piano four hand renditions. So, imagine how excited I was when I happened upon this rather forgotten Vanguard LP featuring the four hand duo of Grete and Josef Dichler.

The Dichlers were, in their day, the foremost four hand piano duo in the German speaking lands. Well regarded teachers in Vienna, they recorded rather extensively and I'm told that one of their most prized recordings was the first piano four hand account of Bach's The Art of Fugue. I'd like to emphasize that this husband and wife team played four hand piano music exclusively on one piano. Today, most often piano four hand is presented on two pianos rather then one, a pity since that intimacy and timbre of one instrument alone is lost amid a reworking of the composer's intentions.

Turn the lights down, grab your favorite beveridge, close your eyes, and allow Dvorak, through the Dichler's 20 magical fingers,  paint a splendid musical picture of the beautiful Czech countryside through these vivid and fresh sounding musical gems.

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