Introducing the Forsyth Barr concert 'Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto' Conductor Kenneth Young

I have known and worked with Ralph Miller for many years. He is a splendid chap, plus a fine and pleasingly versatile instrumentalist, whom I’m very glad has the opportunity to be up front performing the much-loved Haydn Trumpet Concerto.

Mozart wrote many divertimenti during his life. The three examples for strings, K 136-138, were written in 1772, when Mozart was still only 16, and living with his family in Salzburg. They are often referred to as the Salzburg Symphonies, even though they are not symphonies as such. They were originally conceived for string quartet. We’ll be performing the first of these, which is in D major, and is one of Mozart’s most popular works.

Written in 1878, Dvořák’s Serenade for Wind Instruments, Cello and Double Bass, evokes the old-world atmosphere of musical performances at the castles of the Rococo period, where the worlds of the aristocracy and the common folk merged. I have conducted it many times and am delighted to have the opportunity to bring it to a Dunedin audience with the excellent wind section of the DSO.

It was during Mendelssohn’s first visit to Britain, in 1829, that he took a trip up to Scotland. It was there that he conceived his famous overture, the Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) and his 3rd Symphony. However, he struggled to complete the symphony and in 1831 put it aside, not actually completing it until 1842. By this stage, he had lost interest in referring to it as his ‘Scottish’ symphony. Alongside this, because of the delay in completing it, it was actually the last of his five symphonies he finished; however, we still today know it as the 3rd.

Such a fabulous programme. I am really looking forward to getting back with the DSO to perform it all for you.