MARJORIE PARRY (Soprano) LEONARD GOWINGS (Tenor)
THE WIRELESS MILITARY BAND
Conducted by R. P. O'DONNELL
THE Woodland Sketches, originally written for
Pianoforte, are among the happiest tokens of MacDowell's affection for the countryside.
T_ 4.1 : 1 1 i."
In these pieces we hear how his imagination responded to the legends and folklore of Europe (ho spent some years in study and teaching in Germany, and loved to travel in England and Scotland), and to the beauties of the woodlands of his native America. The moods vary from the tender wist fulness of To a Wild Rose to the whimsicality of From Uncle Remus, a depiction of one of Joel Chandler Harris 's delightful tales of animal life. Tho indication at the head of this last piece — ' Humorously, joyously,' gives us the cue, and we have only to think of any of the impudent adventures of Brer Rabbit to enjoy the piece, written, we may be sure, with a twinkle in the eye.
COMPOSERS often make orchestral pieces out of the material of their operas. Rimsky-Korsakov, in this case, reversed the process, and made the Opera, Sadko, out of an orchestral work.
The story, as prefixed to the score of the symphonic poem, is as follows :
' The ship of Sadko, a well-known citizen of Novgorod, stops in the sea. Lots are drawn and Sadko himself is thrown overboard as a tribute to the Sea-King..... The ship then goes on its course.
' Left alone in the midst of the waves, Sadko, with his lyre, is entertained by the Sea-King in his submarine kingdom. Great festivities are taking place, the Sea-King having just married his daughter to Ocean. The King, having requested Sadko to play on his lyre, begins, with all his court, to dance. Ocean dances too, rises and swallows up the ships ; ... then Sadko slackens the strings of his lyre, the dance ends, and the sea becomes calm.'