Four Scenes of Childhood (for violin and piano) (1948)

Movements
Good Morning
Promenade
Playtime
Bedtime Story: The Fairy Princess

Note
Among Waxman’s friends in Hollywood was Jascha Heifetz for whom he wrote two Fantasies based on Bizet’s Carmen and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in 1946.

Waxman’s Four Scenes from Childhood are dedicated to Heifetz, written on the occasion of the birth of the violinist’s son Jay in 1948. These are charming mood pieces depicting various events and times of day. The first is ‘Good morning’, which begins with a clock chiming 7am and a short cadenza before the emergence of a lyrical melody over fluid piano chords. ‘Promenade’ is a graceful, quick waltz, while the very short ‘Playtime’ is more angular, with a hint of Prokofiev in its slightly spiky main theme. The last piece, ‘Bedtime story: The Fairy Princess’, begins with a theme marked ‘Lullaby’. As the piano left hand becomes more animated, the violin represents ‘The prince’, and in due course quiet rippling piano figurations announce ‘The fairy princess’. A return to the ‘Lullaby’ the me depicts the infant falling asleep (one bar is even marked quasi yawning) and the piece ends with the clock chiming 7pm, followed by four quiet chords.*

— Nigel Simeone & John Waxman

The work has been recorded as part of Old Acquaintances: Franz Waxman Chamber Music with the St. Clair Trio & Friends. (Koch International Classics). The Nash Ensemble plays American Chamber Music with Marianne Thorsen, as violin soloist and Ian Brown, piano was released by Hyperion 2015.