Pauline Adamek
Gustavo Dudamel (pictured) leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic this Thursday evening with what promises to be a lively classical concert in celebration of ‘Americana’ — Dvořák’s “From the New World.” Compositions by Adolphus Hailstork and Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges round out the evening’s program.
Widely considered one of the most popular of all symphonies, the Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World,” Op. 95, B. 178 , popularly known as the ‘New World Symphony,’ was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895.
Dvořák was interested in Native American music and the African-American spirituals he heard in North America.
The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premiered on 16 December 1893, at Carnegie Hall conducted by Anton Seidl. A day earlier, in an article published in the New York Herald on 15 December 1893, Dvořák further explained how Native American music had influenced his symphony:
“I have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies. I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, counterpoint, and orchestral color.”
Antonín Dvořák
Dudamel conducts “New World”
Hollywood Bowl
Thursday, August 12, 2021
8PM
Featuring —
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Randall Goosby, violin
Program:
Adolphus Hailstork
An American Port of Call
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Violin Concert o o. 9 in G, Op.8
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”
A contemporary of Mozart, Joseph Bologne—or the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, as he called himself—was an outstanding composer, violin virtuoso, and stellar conductor. Randall Goosby plays Saint-Georges’ dynamic Ninth Violin Concerto.
Gustavo Dudamel has received high praise for his fresh interpretation of Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony.
