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Concert - Dvorak’s
Symphony no.9 ‘From the New World’
In 1973 the soon-to-be movie director Ridley Scott
produced what was last month voted Britain’s favourite
ever advert. A small boy pushed an old-fashioned bike up a
cobbled street, to the strains of a nostalgic melody which
became synonymous with the simple ways of the north. “When
I were a lad…” the narrator’s voice begins,
before extolling the virtues of bread wi’ nowt taken
out. Later on that decade, I used to hum the tune on Brighton
and Hove Albion’s North Stand, along with hundreds of
other supporters, to take the mickey out of rival supporters
from anywhere north of Derby. It wasn’t until I was
in my early twenties that I realised where the music came
from: it was the second movement of Dvorak’s New World
Symphony. I bought a beautiful recording of the symphony on
a visit to Prague while I was living in Italy, and played
it when I was feeling nostalgic for Lewes.
In fact in 1893 Dvorak wrote the New World Symphony as an
ode to the spirit of modernity and inventiveness of the United
States of America, where he had just moved. It has become
one of the most popular pieces of classical music, and forms
the bulk of tonight’s concert, by The South Downs Youth
Orchestra. Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 2 and Mozart’s
Adagio for violin complete the bill. Meanwhile Hovis have
put their Ridley Scott ad back on our screens to celebrate
its award. Dvorak would surely have smiled at the irony: he
was the son of a grocer. AL |
