Fairytales
8th February 2012
Bo Holten: The Emperor’s New Clothes (25’)
A musical version of Andersen’s fairytale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. The fairytale is considered as parable for vanity and credulousness. The emperor receives clothes, which seem to be visibly for people only, who are worthy of their functions and not foolish. In uncertainty and fear of seeming dull, the emperor and his entire courtyard play their parts in the game and “admire” the emperor, who is actually wearing nothing. Holten’s piece is a so called Concert Opera.
Peter Bruun: Three Pieces after Andersen (2005, 7’)
Peter Bruuns Three Pieces after Andersen are very short and colourful pieces. Fun and festive music. The composer refers to short passages of the fairytales as source of inspiration: no. I. Clumsy Hans: “Alley-oop! What a ride! Here I come!” – galloping on my goat. no. II. The Ungly Duckling: “It was so beautiful out on the country” – but we have to hurry back. no III. The Little Mermaid: “The sun rose up from the waters. Its beams fell, warm and kindly, upon the chill sea foam, and the little mermaid did not feel the hand of death. In the bright sunlight overhead, she saw hundreds of fair ethereal beings. They were so transparent that through them she could see the ship's white sails and the red clouds in the sky. Their voices were sheer music, but so spirit-like that no human ear could detect the sound…”
Luigi Zaninelli: The Steadfast Tin Soldier (19`)
Karel Husa: The Steadfast Tin Soldier (1974, 27’)
”The Steadfast Tin Soldier” by Hans Christian Andersen was first published in 1838. It tells the adventurous and dangerous journey of the one-legged tin soldier back to his beloved, a paper ballerina. Both the Italian-American composer Luigi Zaninelli and the Czech-American composer Karel Husa wrote a version of this exciting story for narrator and orchestra.
Richard Mohaupt: Max and Moritz (1946, 26’)
Max and Moritz is a dance burlesque by German composer Richard Mohaupt (libretto and music), one of the many wrongly forgotten exile composers of the 1930’s. As literary original he took the correspondent picture story by Wilhelm Busch from 1865. From the ballet there arose a suite with narrator, who leads through the adventures of the two hyperactive and nasty boys.
John McCabe: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Suite (1971, 15’)
The suite is based on an opera by McCabe and was written predominately for young performers/young orchestra. The content refers to the internationally popular fantasy novels “The Chronicles Of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis published from 1950 to 1956. The chronicles narrate the fantastic adventures of some children in the magic world of Narnia, which is populated by various legendary creatures such as the faun Tumnus, an evil white witch or the lion Aslan as central deity of Narnia.
Geoffrey Burgon: The Chronicles of Narnia: Suite (1991, 14’)
An orchestral suite arranged from Burgon's famous music to the 1988-90 TV adaptions.
Søren Hyldgaard: The Eye of the Eagle (2011, 20’)
The suite refers to the correspondent Danish children’s film from 1997. It portrays the adventures of prince Valdemar and scullion Aske in medieval Denmark, who are on the run from a bishop greedy for power, a one eyed man and a performing eagle.
Rachel Portman: The Little Prince (2003, 1 hr 30')
The classic story of a prince brought down to earth by Antoine de Saint Exupéry was made into an opera by award-winning film-composer Rachel Portman in 2003, and garnered instant praise for its well-constructed score that seeks to illuminate the story for both adults and children.
Debbie Wiseman:The Fairy Tale of The Devoted Friend (1999, 25')
The Nightingale and The Rose (1999, 25')
The Fairy Tale of The Selfish Giant (1999, 22')
Screen composer Debbie Wiseman has written sumptious accompanying music to these three fairy tales, designed for concert performance with narration and images.