Sym 6 / American Suite

While Dvorak's Symphony No.6 is clearly inspired by the Symphony No.2 of his friend and champion Johannes Brahms, its middle movements are more in the Slavonic tradition. The Suite Op.98b, written when Dvorak was director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, is an exotic patchwork of Amerindian and Afro-American music - with a pronounced Bohemian accent. In these superb performances by the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester led by James Gaffigan, both the charm and folkloric character of these works are clearly in evidence.