Saturday, 19 September 2026

Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca, the third movement of Piano Sonata No. 11, was identified as the composition imitating Ottoman Janissary marching bands.

Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet was initially rejected by the Bolshoi Ballet as “undanceable”; orchestral suites later helped spark interest before the ballet premiered in Czechoslovakia in 1938.

Smetana’s Vltava, also known as The Moldau, was presented as a patriotic work inspired by the river running through the Czech Republic.

Dino revised his view of Dvořák’s finest symphony after hearing the slow movement of the New World Symphony, calling the Ninth his best.