Be enchanted by the melodies of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 1 and Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony.
"Throw it away!" exclaimed the pianist and composer Nikolai Rubinstein when his friend Tchaikovsky played him his First Piano Concerto in 1875. A slap in the face for Tchaikovsky, who at the time was quite psychologically fragile. However, Tchaikovsky refused to change a note and managed to arrange a premiere in Boston, where Hans von Bülow played the piano part. Tchaikovsky's concerto with its characteristic opening bars soon became immensely popular and eventually Rubinstein was forced to revise his opinion. From 1878, he performed the piano concerto himself – so well that Tchaikovsky eventually dedicated his Second Piano Concerto to him.
Antonín Dvořák's Eighth Symphony, bathed in sunlight, brims with optimistism and vital energy. In terms of form, this work is directly influenced by Beethoven and Brahms. The content, however, is unmistakably Czech. A profusion of melodies inspired by Bohemian folk music lends the work a bucolic euphoria: how good it is to live in a world filled with natural wonders. Dvořák dedicated this symphony to the Academy of Sciences, Literature and Arts of Bohemia, which had elected him as one of its members. This symphony is sometimes subtitled the English, because the score was ultimately published in England (Dvořák having had issues with his assigned publisher).
