About the Concert

Dvorák was happy in America, at least when he wrote his symphony "From the New World". And you can also hear in the "American Quartet" that he was doing well on the other side of the ocean. His mission was no less than to contribute to the creation of American national music, whereby it was almost desirable for him to incorporate elements of the music of his Bohemian homeland. What we hear in this concerto, arranged for five wind instruments, was something completely new and at the same time familiar in his time. His compatriot Leos Janácek also used familiar elements in his music, namely the specific tone of the Czech language. He created the suite "Mládí" (Youth) shortly before his 70th birthday, when he was compiling musical memories from his life. The programme of the Philharmoniker's wind players is rounded off with works by Josef Bohuslav Foerster and Frantisek Chaloupka, composers who also bring the special Bohemian-Czech "sound" of our neighbouring country to life.