Day 12: Variations on a Rococo theme, Tchaikovsky

Day 12: Variations on a Rococo theme, Tchaikovsky

As I haven’t got a copy of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Variations (for cello), written for his brother, Julian, and made popular by the South Bank Show, I thought I’d listen to Tchaikovsky’s Rococo variations, which are also for cello. Now, I’ve already told you that my favourite composer is Saint-Saens, but I didn’t mention that one of my favourite instruments is the cello!

Ofra Harnoy and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras do a wonderful job with this piece (another CD from Abergavenny Music!). This was a lovely piece of music, but it wasn’t as obvious to me that this was a set of variations as I remember the Lloyd Webber to be, or as I know Beethoven or Mozart variations to be. After the theme is played there are 8 variations, which are played without a break. This was 18 minutes of lovely playing and helped to keep me relaxed.

 

Day 11: Karl Jenkins, Adiemus 2 – Cantata Mundi

Day 11: Karl Jenkins, Adiemus 2 – Cantata Mundi

The first Adiemus was known as Songs of Sanctuary and was released in 1995. Both Songs of Sanctuary and Cantata Mundi were written by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Miriam Stockley on vocals.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve listened to Cantata Mundi, and I’d forgotten just how emotive it is. I’m no musical expert, but to me, it some of the vocals sound almost African, very clear and penetrating. I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere that this is achieved by the composer not using real words for the singer, and even that it’s mostly singing syllables, that achieve the effect he wants.

Another thing I do remember is that Miriam Stockley sings the theme tune on the Beatrix Potter videos my children and I used to watch when they were really little. And she really does have a lovely voice.

The whole of the work is just over an hour, but I can’t listen to all of it in one go as after a while it all starts to sound the same! Oh dear, perhaps I shouldn’t say that!

Day 8: Wasps, Vaughan-Williams

Day 8: Wasps, Vaughan-Williams

I do have quite a lot of English music, and Vaughan Williams in particular, in my CD collection, but I haven’t got his London Symphony, which was suggested to me by a friend. So, instead, I listened to a couple of excerpts from the Wasps!

The music was originally written as incidental music, to accompany the play of the same name by the Greek Aristophanes. The overture begins with a very wasp-like buzzing, but this theme is very quickly followed by some rather typical Vaughan Williams writing. The whole suite of incidental music amounts to about an hour or so of music, but the actual overture itself is only about 10 minutes long.

The other extract on my CD – which was recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, one of the best interpreters of Vaughan Williams’ music – is the March Past of the Kitchen Utensils. The story goes that Vaughan Williams composed the movement to represent a judge who blames his dog and outs him on trial for stealing some cheese! As his character witnesses the dog calls upon some of the kitchen utensils! I’ve no idea if he was found guilty or not, but it’s certainly an amusing story!