London Philharmonic Orchestra - Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No.9 (From the New World)

Franz Schubert Overture, Rosamunde
Felix Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No.2 in D minor, Op.40
INTERVAL
Antonin Dvorak Symphony No.9 (From the New World)

Kurt Masur conductor
Louis Lortie piano

Dvorak, lured to America to head up a new music college, is often said to have written his Ninth Symphony out of homesickness. But the work is also an orchestral homage to the composer's new home: Dvorak's first movement has its basis in the folk themes of the New World, whilst his cor anglais theme, famously used in the Hovis advertisement, actually comes from the spirituals of the plantation fields. Dvorak entered the New World with optimism, and his symphony shares its soul with the grass roots of the American people - popular music indeed.