Hyperion Records

The Ballad in D minor was composed in the autumn of 1884 specifically for publication in the Christmas edition of the London Magazine of Music for that year; a number of commissions from England, both large and small, flowed as a result of Dvorák’s growing reputation abroad. Though much slighter than the Seventh Symphony, written just after it, the Ballad has something of its tragic and passionate tone; the reflective opening idea, played by the violin, also seems to look forward to the style of Janácek.

from notes by Jan Smaczny © 1998