Conductor, P. S. G. O'Donnell
Howard Fry (baritone)
Beethoven composed an overture and some incidental music to Goethe's play Egmont. 'The overture ', says Scott Goddard in an article in the RADIO TIMES, 'illustrates the play as much or as little as the hearer may wish it to do. Like all great abstract music it stands free and unsupported. Nevertheless it bears the name of a famous figure of history and forms one of a series of movements designed to illustrate the development of a play.' The overture is intended to prepare the minds of the audience for what is about to happen on the stage. The play is tragic and so is Beethoven's music.
Smetana (1824-1884) was the pioneer of Czech national music. His cycle of six symphonic poems collectively entitled ' My Country' is, as the title suggests, in praise of Bohemia.
' From Bohemia's Woods and Fields' is the fourth symphonic poem of the cycle. The music sets out to describe a traveller's sensations on his arrival in the country. He meets a village maiden. At noon he rests in the woods, and then proceeds onwards until he comes to a village. A hymn reminds him of the piety of the peasants, and a jolly dance suggests their simple sense of fun.