One of a small army of Czech musicians who settled in the musical capital of Vienna during the Classical era, Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek was acclaimed as one of the city’s finest pianists, worked as Vienna’s Court Organist, and produced a small but choice catalogue of compositions during his brief life of 34 years. He befriended Beethoven and Schubert, clearly absorbing lessons from their orchestral music that he put to use in his own fascinating Symphony in D major, completed in 1823 but not published until 134 years later. 

Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 8, written in 1889, is one of his sunniest symphonies, a contrast with the stormier Symphonies Nos. 6 and 7 (originally published as 1 and 2) that had brought him fame across Europe. The Eighth is filled with the sounds of the Bohemian countryside and its folk music.