Dvorák Symphony No 8

The LSO’s Principal Guest Conductor’s second concert this month contrasts an achingly poignant concerto with a pastoral folk-tinged symphony.

Returning to the LSO for the first time in 10 years, Lisa Batiashvili performs Bartók’s First Violin Concerto. Written for the composer’s true love – violinist Stefi Geyer – the piece, and Bartók himself, were sadly rejected by the dedicatee. Subsequently held back from performance for fifty years it remains a bitter-sweet masterpiece straight from the heart. Dvorák was a proud countryman, often drawing on the folk and dance tunes of his native Bohemia. His Eighth Symphony is perhaps the most joyous example of this, moving from the idyllic to the more rustic but all joining together to paint a picture that is irrefutably Czech.