Online: Ginastera, Gerhard and Dvorák | London Symphony Orchestra

At LSO St Luke’s, Sir Simon Rattle conducts the music of Dvorák, Ginastera and Roberto Gerhard in a musical celebration of new worlds and impossible dreams.

Dvorák’s career took him all the way to America, but he never lost his Czech accent, or his knack for a great tune. He’s the beginning and end of an adventure that takes us from the Bohemian countryside of his delightful Wind Serenade to the Argentinian pampas of Alberto Ginastera and the fairytale Spain of Roberto Gerhard’s Don Quixote.

So expect sunlit melodies, pounding dance rhythms and glowing colours – all sounding more vibrant than ever in the informal space of LSO St Luke’s. But expect something more, too. Gerhard was in exile in Britain when he imagined the exploits of Don Quixote, and even a composer as optimistic as Dvorák let pangs of homesickness seep into his playful American Suite. The tunes are wonderful, but the emotions behind them are even more potent.

Recorded on 9 January 2021 at LSO St Luke's in Covid-secure conditions.

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