An unexpected introduction

At a concert last night by Sinfonia da Camera, conducted by Ian Hobson, a man walked onstage to speak a bit about the composer John de Lacy Wooldridge (1919–1958). The orchestra was about to give the American premiere of Wooldridge’s Concerto for Orchestra and Oboe, with John Dee, soloist. The last words of the introduction:

“What you’re hearing is a young piece by a young man who happened to be my father.”

That introduction gave the music that followed — pastoral, sometimes playful — even greater emotional content.

[The speaker, who never gave his name, was Hugh Wooldridge.]