Antonín Dvořák

Slavonic Dance No. 8 in G minor

Antonín Dvořák's 16 Slavonic Dances for orchestra, themselves inspired by Johannes Brahms's Hungarian Dances, are spirited pieces full of Slavic and Bohemian musical styles and form. The first set of eight dances, Opus 46, contains one of the most famous and vivid works - the Furiant in G minor (Slavonic Dance No. 8), here transcribed by Catriona McDermid for wind quintet and piano. The timbre of the wind quintet allows both the huge Dvorakian gestures and the gliding Dvorakian melodies to flow freely and musically, with the piano acting as reinforcing percussion and invisible orchestral accomplice.