Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Jan Chalupecki, conductor
Michal Kanka, cello

Bedřich Smetana: Vltava (from the series of symphonic poems Má Vlast) / Antonin Dvořák: Concerto for cello and orchestra, Op. 104 / Symphony no. 9, Op. 95, From the New World

The symphonic poem Vltava received its first performance in 1875 and established Smetana as the founding member of the Czech national school of music, one of whose leading composers was Antonin Dvořák. Two of Dvořák’s most popular orchestral works were however written during the composer’s extended stay in America. While in the New World Symphony (first performed in the Carnegie Hall in 1893) Dvořák stated he had incorporated features of Negro and Indian music, in the Cello Concerto he eschews all American influence to produce a work brimming with Bohemian nationalist energy, but also including a strong dose of nostalgia for the land of his birth.