Music of the Day - New world Symphony

Happy July 4th!Today I am sharing with you an extensive work of music: Anton Dvořák's 9th Symphony. Dvořák was a Czech composer and followed a nationalistic tendency in his music merging folk music with symphonic forms. In 1892 Dvořák arrived to the United States and became the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. He was fascinated with the idioms of American music and engaged in using them to create music the way he had used traditional Czech elements. The New York Philharmonic commissioned Dvořák to write his 9th Symphony which is known as the "New World Symphony".

Here is the 2nd movement of it, Largo, performed by the New York Philharmonic. I chose this movement for it's slow pace and glorious expression. I live in a congested part of Manhattan but today I hear no honking and the streets are hauntingly calm: