From Birmingham
THE BIRMINGHAM STUDIO ORCHESTRA conducted by JOSEPH LEWIS
THE Fantasia, an orchestral version of one of the Hungarian Rhapsodies, consists cf two main parts-one slow, in the style of the' gipsies' Lassan tunes ; - and the other, lively, containing a number of short sections, corresponding to the melodies described in their speech as Friszka.
PREFATORY note to the score of this
A work gives Tchaikovsky's reason for putting it together. ' A large number of the most beautiful of Mozart's smaller works,' he says, ' are. for some reason. little known, not only to the public, but to musicians. The composer's object in arranging- this Suite was to bring more frequently before the public works which, however modest in form, are gems of musical literature.'
All the Movements except the Third were jriginally Piano pieces. The Third piece is an . arrangement of the little choral piece, Ave Verum
Corpus (' Hail Pure Body'). The titles of tho four pieces are (1) Gigue ; (2) Minuet; (3) Prayer ; (4) Air with Variations.