MICHAEL DORE (Violin)
THE B.B.C. ORCHESTRA (Section C)
(Led by F. WEIST HILL)
Conducted by EDWARD CLARK
WHETHER Bizet was fond of children or not is difficult to say. If we draw upon the evidence of Carmen we should say not, for most of the characters in that opera are far more likely to have eaten children than to have fondled them. If, on the other hand, we regard this little suite one can at least assume that he thoroughly understood their natures. The music is, however, entertainment for adults, as are so many of those things written ostensibly for, but really about, children. It is none the less delightful, and if the modern child prefers, as he does, Stravinsky and the antics of Prokofiev and Co., the precocity of his appreciation can scarcely be laid at Bizet's door.
DARIUS MILHAUD, at one time one of 'the Six,' is now accepted in France as brilliant rather than precocious as he once was, and like others of the 'Six,' he can look back upon his youthful escapades without finding it either necessary or desirable to repeat them. This work, published in 1923, was composed after Milhaud had served some years in the French Legation in Brazil. In the Saudades he records his impressions of certain dances he heard in Brazil. The work consists of an overture and twelve dances, of which only five numbers, besides the overture, are being played tonight. All the numbers are very short, averaging less than two minutes in performance, but they are brilliantly scored for a comparatively small orchestra. The love of Milhaud and his generation for brass and percussion is here very clearly shown.
MUSSORGSKY wrote surprisingly little for orchestra alone ; an Intermezzo, a March, a Fantasy, and this Scherzo complete the list. He was essentially an operatic composer, even many of his songs are operatic in design and construction. It may be that he felt his limitations in orchestral technique, and it is certain that his powers of orchestrating were not equal to the demands he laid upon them ; indeed, the greater part of his work was revised, and in some cases practically rescored by Rimsky-Korsakov, who thereby incurred the displeasure of the purists of a later date, indeed so late that their anguished outcry can still be heard by those interested in these highly technical controversies.
THE Pride of the Regiment is the play which transplanted direct from a B.B.C. studio to St. Martin's Theatre, has recently closed a successful run. Walter Leigh, who wrote the music for the studio performance and added considerably to his score when it was lifted to the stage, is one of the most promising of the younger - the real younger - British composers. He studied under Hindemith in Berlin, a course which appears to have done him more good than harm, and he is now more interested in theatre music than in any other form of composition. It is this very fact which offers such high hopes for his future.