Nicholas Braithwaite: A Joyful Return

I am delighted to be returning to the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra. Over a long career, I have collaborated with many ensembles, and working with the DSO has always been among the most enjoyable. What matters to me most is a musician’s curiosity about the music and their willingness to explore it — qualities the DSO has in abundance. There is also a personal connection: Dunedin is the city where my father was born in 1896, the twentieth of twenty-two children.

This programme travels from the intimate sensitivity of Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, written as a birthday gift for his wife Cosima after the birth of their son, through two twentieth-century masterpieces of the flute repertoire, to one of Papa Haydn’s most genial symphonies.

The Wagner was first performed on the staircase of the Wagner villa at Tribschen — one can only imagine how the players arranged themselves and their music! Originally written for single strings, it is now often performed with a full string section. Having conducted both versions, I find each equally effective.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 comes just after the Paris Symphonies and shows his music at its most genial, clear and witty. There is even a touch of mischievous humour in the trio, where the bassoon seems delightfully out of step with everyone else. Pure joy.