Orchestral Excerpt Insights: Scott Hostetler on Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9

Perhaps one of the most popular melodies in 19th-century music, the English horn solo from the second movement of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) is as challenging to master as it is beautiful.

Scott Hostetler, English horn in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, demonstrates how he interprets this iconic solo, from examining each measure to envisioning what he aims to communicate while playing. “I take each bar and think about what I want that bar to do technically, but when I sit down to perform it, I don't want to be thinking about all these detail," he says. "I practice them so that they become automatic, and then when I go to perform, I want to think about the bigger picture.”

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