Prom 8: Dvořák / Smetana

Dvořák’s Cello Concerto is full of melody and heartfelt sentiment, to which French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras will bring both youthful urgency and intimacy, if his recording with tonight’s conductor is anything to go by.

The work is widely regarded as the finest concerto ever written for the instrument. Nostalgia turns to nationalism in the second half, moving from a Proms staple to a Proms premiere. This is the first time the six symphonic poems of Má vlast have been given complete and in sequence at the Proms. Together they constitute a glorious musical touchstone for ‘the resurrection of the Czech nation, its future happiness and glory’.