1 Adagio – Allegro molto
2 Largo
3 Scherzo: Molto vivace
4 Allegro con fuoco

What is the story?

By the time he became professor of the Prague Conservatory of Music in 1891, Antonín Dvořák was hailed as a national treasure. Like his contemporaries further afield, he broke free from composers of the Austro-German line (Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, for example) with a view to establishing a distinctly Czech musical style, inspired by the folk music of his country. Nikolai RimskyKorsakov did the same in Russia, Béla Bartók in Hungary, and Isaac Albéniz in Spain.

Near the end of 1891, Dvořák was invited by the wealthy arts patron Jeannette Thurber to become Director of the recently formed National Conservatory of Music in New York. The annual salary of $15,000 was too hard to resist – after all, Dvořák had six children to support. In September the following year, he set sail for the US.

What’s the music like?

Could the audience have heard the US’ wide-open landscapes in the first movement’s slow introduction? That might be a stretch, but they must have been struck by the stormy build up to the first theme, a bounding idea on horns that literally gets its own drumroll. The skipping second theme speaks more of a country dance, while in the third main idea a solo flute brings us to a more idyllic pastoral setting. Hearing the sheer drive of this movement, it comes as no surprise that one of Dvořák’s passions was steam trains.

The slow movement features one of the most celebrated tunes of the classical repertoire – one indelibly linked to the distinctive, unvarnished sound of the cor anglais. Ridley Scott recognised its soulful nostalgia when, as a young director in the 1970s, he used it in a famous TV advert for Hovis bread. And Dvořák’s student William Arms Fisher honoured the tune’s spiritual inspiration by adding his own words to create an actual spiritual.

According to Dvořák, the lively music of the third movement was suggested by a scene in Henry Longfellow’s poem The Song of Hiawatha. But there’s also a slower, ambling tune that suggests the very image of a cowboy on a prairie, as well as unmistakable references to Czech rhythms.

The finale opens with a robust, heroic theme. In the previous movements, Dvořák has referenced earlier themes, but here he quotes liberally from all three movements in a grand summing-up. The conclusion is bold and emphatic.

The London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra believes that extraordinary music should be available to everyone, everywhere – from orchestral fans in the concert hall to first-time listeners all over the world.

The LSO was established in 1904 as one of the first orchestras shaped by its musicians. Since then, generations of remarkable talents have built the LSO's reputation for quality, daring, ambition and a commitment to sharing the joy of music with everyone. Today, the LSO is ranked among the world’s top orchestras, reaching tens of thousands of people in London and on stages around the world, and millions more through streaming, downloads, radio, film and television.

As Resident Orchestra at the Barbican since the Centre opened in 1982, the LSO performs some 70 concerts there every year with its family of artists: Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor Emeritus Sir Simon Rattle, Principal Guest Conductors Gianandrea Noseda and François-Xavier Roth, Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, and Associate Artists Barbara Hannigan and André J Thomas. The LSO has major artistic residencies in Paris, Tokyo and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and tours regularly in Asia and the US.

Through LSO Discovery, the LSO’s learning and community programme, 60,000 people each year experience the transformative power of music, with many more taking part in LSO Discovery’s work on tour and online. The Orchestra’s musicians are at the heart of this unique programme, leading workshops, mentoring bright young talent, working with emerging composers, visiting children’s hospitals, performing at free concerts for the local community, and using music to support neurodiverse adults. Concerts for schools and families introduce children to music and the instruments of the Orchestra, with an ever-growing range of digital resources and training programmes supporting teachers in the classroom.

The home of much of this work is LSO St Luke’s, the LSO's venue on Old Street. In the Autumn of 2025, following a programme of works and upgrades, the LSO opened up the venue’s unique facilities to more people than ever before, with new stateof-the-art recording facilities and community spaces.

The LSO’s record label LSO Live is a leader among orchestraowned labels, bringing to life the excitement of a live performance. The catalogue of over 200 acclaimed recordings reflects the artistic priorities of the Orchestra – from popular new releases, such as Janáček’s Katya Kabanova with Sir Simon Rattle, to favourites like Vaughan Williams’ symphonies with Sir Antonio Pappano and Verdi’s Requiem with Gianandrea Noseda.

The LSO has been prolific in the studio since the infancy of orchestral recording, making more recordings than any other orchestra – over 2,500 projects to date – across film, video games and bespoke audio collaborations. Recent highlights include soundtrack recordings for the video game Genshin Impact, a Mercury Music Prize-nominated collaboration with Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders, and appearing on screen and on the Grammy-winning soundtrack for the film Maestro, which was also nominated for multiple BAFTA and Oscar awards.

Through inspiring music, learning programmes and digital innovations, the LSO’s reach extends far beyond the concert hall. And thanks to the generous support of The City of London Corporation, Arts Council England, corporate supporters, trusts and foundations, and individual donors, the LSO is able to continue sharing extraordinary music with as many people as possible, across London and the world.