In the summer of 1893, Antonín Dvořák retreated from the bustle of New York City to the small Czech immigrant community of Spillville, Iowa. He later remarked that his family “liked it very much [there],” and the quietude of the Midwest proved inspiring. It was during this stay that he composed his String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 (“American”), a work that reflects both the serenity of the countryside and the vitality of his new surroundings.

The present arrangement for flute quartet features the fourth and final movement, a lively rondo that Dvořák is said to have conceived during train rides through rural America. The rhythmic drive of the music, often likened to the chugging of a locomotive, is reimagined through the flute ensemble’s shimmering sonority, lending the movement a luminous color and buoyant energy