Anton Dvorák (1841 - 1904)
Symphony No 5
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Monday 26 March, 7.30pm
Petr Eben Vox Clamantis
Brahms Piano Concerto No 1 in D minor Op 15
DVORAK SYMPHONY NO 5 IN F MAJOR Op 76
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jiri Belohlavek conductor
Cedric Tiberghien piano
Barbican Hall, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
Book tickets
What makes this Symphony so Great?
Think of Dvorák's Fifth Symphony as a milestone work, one of those remarkable pieces that allow creative artists to unlock doors to new possibilities and opportunities. The 33-year-old Czech composer, making slow progress in his native Bohemia , gained wider recognition within the Austro-Hungarian empire and beyond in February 1875 when he received the Austrian State Music Prize. The award spurred Dvorák into action. In swift succession, he wrote his Serenade and Nocturne, majestic works for string ensemble, and the Symphony in F major.
Brahms, one of the judges of the Austrian State Music Prize, clearly admired Dvorák's developing musical style, which owed a good deal to the German composer's example. Although Brahms and Dvorák held sharply conflicting views, not least on matters of religion, the two men became close friends. The devoutly religious Dvorák disliked Brahms's atheism, and yet the young Czech humbly acknowledged the practical support he received from his senior colleague. Thanks to Brahms, Dvorák gained a publisher and a new audience.
The Fifth Symphony had to wait almost nine years from the time of its Prague premiere in 1879 to appear in print. The work, as revised for publication, almost certainly made its concert debut at London 's Crystal Palace on 7 April 1888. During the 1920s, Donald Francis Tovey noted the pastoral mood of much of the symphony in an influential programme that helped preserve interest in a work that might easily have disappeared beneath the shadow of Dvorák's famous final three symphonies. Above all, Tovey and others have heaped praised on the Fifth Symphony's tempestuous finale. "It causes the symphony to go out like a lion after coming in like a lamb to the slaughter," observed one critic, nailing the work's character in one deft phrase. Dvorák's Fifth has the all the power and invention required to beguile, transport and agitate its audience.
(c) Andrew Stewart 2006
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