Piano Concerto g minor Op. 33, facsimile of the autograph

Written in one fell swoop and polished for ages: thus arose one of the most significant works of Czech piano music. Dvorák’s G-minor Piano Concerto was composed in barely two months in 1876 only to be refined for more than seven years before it finally appeared in print. As a result, Dvorák’s handwritten score abounds in changes and corrections. The 141-page autograph bears impressive witness to the work’s extraordinarily difficult gestation. Besides the original text, it contains annotations in lead, red and blue pencil as well as red ink, not to mention many passages hidden beneath pasted slips of paper. Until 1990 the score was owned by Dvorák’s heirs. At the instigation of the pianist András Schiff – and with his generous financial support – we can now present the first complete facsimile edition of this exhilarating document in a high-quality reproduction that uncannily resembles the original to the last jot. Readers are invited to track down and follow the stages in the work’s genesis. An ideal gift for the “Dvorák Centenary Year” in 2004 … and of course there after as well.