Czech Philharmonic ⬩ John Eliot Gardiner

“I have loved Antonín Dvořák all my life, and I am grateful to have he opportunity this time of playing his landmark Fifth Symphony, by which he assumed his place in the main current of symphonic composition of his day. Dvořák wrote it in just under six weeks, and in it he seems to have combined the enthusiasm of his early symphonies with the mastery of his maturity. We hear Dvořák as an enthusiastic youth full of life, full of desire for discovery of music, but we also find here a polished master in his approach to composition and to the handling of musical material. From a purely musical perspective and in the context of Dvořák’s life, I find the Fifth Symphony to be entirely unique, and I hope that together with the philharmonic, we will convey my special understanding of this music to you as well”, wrote Gardiner.