(From Birmingham)
THE BIRMINGHAM STUDIO AUGMENTED ORCHESTRA
Conducted by JOSEPH LEWIS
THE Carnival Overture, is part of a larger work consisting of three Overtures which Dvorak intended to be performed at once. As he conceived it. the three were called, Nature, Life, and Love. But in this country the second, much better known than either of the others, appears always under the title Carnival. The three were performed together under the composer's direction, at the farewell concert which he gave in Prague before leaving for America and at the first concert which he gave there.
The Carnival Overture begins in a real Carnival spirit with a brisk and joyous tune. The falling fourth, which is three times repeated at the end of the theme becomes the starting point for the next tune, and there is one other, introduced by the viola, which has a large share in the first section. A second main tune appears soon, of rather melancholy character, and thereafter the Overture pursues the customary course, except that the section which is known as the ' working out' is interrupted by a tittle slow episode in which the flute plays a plaintive melody over a reiterated phrase on the English Horn.