Mendelssohn & Dvořák

The scintillating pianist Andrea Lam is at her best in Mendelssohn’s bright, bubbly concerto. Brightness and contentment too in Dvořák’s most bucolic symphony – few pieces are so uncomplicatedly happy. It’s out-of-doors music by a humble man with simple tastes.

Closer to home, the Māori legend tells of the beautiful maiden Hinemoa who swam across Lake Rotorua to her lover, the warrior Tūtānekai. What inspired Maria Grenfell, though, was that Hinemoa was guided by music – the sound of Tūtānekai’s flute.