Although Don Quixote (1897) by Richard Strauss (1864–1949) is listed among his tone poems in catalogues, in terms of its genre, the work continues the tradition of the sinfonia concertante in the form of a disguised double concerto. The cello solos portray the melancholy knight, while the viola (together with the tenor tuba and bass clarinet) characterises his squire, Sancho Panza. The fourteen programme-music variations narrate the adventures of the Spanish nobleman and his armour-bearer, immortalised by Cervantes. Encouraged by the success of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) composed the first series of his Slavonic Dances in 1878. The eight pieces, inspired by Czech folk dances such as the furiant, polka, sousedská and skočná, were originally written for piano four hands, but at the publisher’s request the composer penned the orchestral version soon afterwards. The concert’s world-famous American guest artist is the 85-year-old Lawrence Foster, born in Los Angeles to Romanian parents and one of the most respected doyens of the international conducting world.

Presented by: Hungarian National Philharmonic