Victoria Sladen SOPRANO
Richard Lewis TENOR
Marjorie Thomas CONTRALTO
Edith Evans NARRATOR
BBC CHORAL SOCIETY (Chorus-Master, Leslie Woodgate)
BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Leader, Paul Beard)
Conductor, Sir Malcolm Sargent

PART 1 at 8.15
Coronation Te Deum William Walton
8.27 app. Chacony in G minor for strings Purcell
8.37 app. The Hymn of Jesus Hoist

PART 2 at 9.15
King David: Symphonic Psalm in three parts, after a drama by Rene Morax Honegger
In its original form King David was a drama (or 'dramatic psalm') by the Swiss poet Rene Morax, with incidental music by Honegger, produced at the Theatre du Jorat at Mezieres near Lausanne in 1921. Its success encouraged Honegger to rescore the music for a larger orchestra and convert the work into an oratorio or 'symphonic psalm,' with a narrator to set the scenes and describe the progress of the story. In this form it was given at Winterthur in 1923, and in Paris the following year. The highly dramatic and effective music contains allusions to the styles of Bach and Handel, besides more modern composers; but the skill and force of the whole are unquestionable. Tonight the work is being given in an English translation by Edward AgMe. The first part portrays David as Shepherd, Captain, and Leader of the Army; the second part. David the King; and the third, David the Prophet
(Harold Rutland)

From the Royal Festival Hall, London