No. 1

Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, From the New World

It was a genuine surprise that Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony edged out Beethoven’s 9th as No. 1 on WNED Classical’s Top 40 list of Classical Pieces. But the choice may actually bespeak an important shift in how our listeners evaluate classical music.

Beethoven’s 9th is always an occasion. In the concert hall it demands the introduction of a chorus and a careful choice of a program partner. It can be a budget buster. Broadcast, its length requires more than hour clear of all other distractions like IDs and underwriting announcements, and listeners, knowing it to be a masterwork feel duty bound to listen to the whole thing. Then what do you program to follow it? No one denies the importance of Beethoven’s 9th or its power to engage listeners.

Dvorak’s 9th, on the other hand, is a lot friendlier symphony. It’s big music, stirring at moments, and who can fault the sunset lyricism of the great slow movement. In fact, it’s easy to listen to and it never fails to satisfy. Sure, there’s enough for announcers to talk about. What makes this symphony a “new world” symphony? What was Dvorak’s American experience like? Is there something that connects all the works that Dvorak wrote while he was in America? Still, as interesting as these questions are, they are essentially irrelevant to the experience of listening to this symphony. Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 reached No. 1 for a simple reason. The symphony is the perfect broadcast symphony. Bold enough to demand attention at times, beautiful enough to leave a soothing melody or two hanging in your head. Classical listening rarely gets better than this.

Top 40 Countdown

A few years ago the listeners to WNED Classical told us what they thought a TOP 40 list of Classical pieces should be. Six hundred and twenty-two different pieces were put forward, and over nine hundred listeners participated. The result, The WNED Classical Top 40, was both startling and comforting. There were a number of surprises, Stravinsky and Copland made the list; Mendelssohn and Schumann did not! It was comforting to know that the two most popular composers were Beethoven and J.S. Bach. The biggest surprise of all was the piece that crowned the list as No. 1.