Earthly paradise, a romantic idyll, true love: this is the beginning of the programme. From Wagners symphonic birthday present for his wife to the sorrow and homesickness of Takemitsu, in his typically strange style uniting Japanese tradition and western innovation.

With Vaughan Williams’ lark, dark clouds threaten and the mood becomes gloomy. Yoshimatsu mourns the nearly extinct toki or Japanese crested ibis, and Richard Strauss ends with the death of an artist.