West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Wednesday 14 May 1947, page 10


GUEST CONDUCTOR. Australia the "Land Of Music." Mr. Warwick Braithwaite, who ; will be the guest conductor at an A.B.C. orchestral concert at the' Capitol Theatre on Saturday night, arrived by air last night. Mr. Braithwaite, who is a New' Zealander, won a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and later became a conductor, having experience which embraced!. symphonic work, grand opera, broadcasting and recording. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, which is the highest honour bestowed by the academy and may be held by only 100 living musicians. It is awarded in recognition of services to music. Since he left in 1917, Mr. Braithwaite has not visited New Zealand or Australia until now. He has conducted concerts in Sydney and Melbourne and his impressions were enthusiastically expressed as he remarked: "I really believe that Australia is destined to be the land of music in the biggest sense within the next ten years. Sydney's per-I manent orchestra is chiefly remarkable for the eagerness of its play-! ers. I had the first Australian per-! formance there on Friday night of the Ernest Moeron symphony whichi was equal to any I have conducted of that work in London. The facility with which they read it was marvellous and afforded me pleasant astonishment, although I have conducted all the major orchestras in London and throughout England and Scotland. "There is already a tradition in orchestral work in Sydney, which started with the work of Verbruggen to whose work and influence the present orchestra owes much. The securing of the services of such an important musical figure as Mr. Ioossens is a sign of Australia's musical progress." Having so enjoyed his work at 'four concerts in Melbourne and five in Sydney he was now looking forward to his association with the1 Perth Symphony Orchestra, and Saturday's concert. He was gratified to know that youth concerts were being given in Australia. That was the surest way of building up con-i cert audiences and ensuring musical progress. The Liszt concerto with Claudio Arrau on Saturday night would be the first occasion on which he had! been associated with that pianist. He believed it would be an exceedingly! pleasant one, because he had attended the pianist's coricert in Melbourne on Monday night and had1 been astonished at his great artistry : and superb technique. In London Arrau's work had been likened to that of the greatest pianists.