S.B. from Birmingham
THE BIRMINGHAM STATION ORCHESTRA: Conducted by JOSEPH LEWIS
THE Autumn depicted by MacDowell has neither the sense of sadness nor the richness of the 'season of mists and mellow fruitfulness' that we in this country know. The impression is rather that of the crisp, tingling freshness of the American 'fall' that stimulates and invigorates.
VERY soon after ho left the Royal Academy of Music (in 1887) Edward German began to make his mark, first with work for the theatre (his Richard III music, written within two years of that event, was a great success). Then came a Symphony, and after that some more Shakespeare music (for Henry VIII, of which everybody knows the famous Three Dances). Very soon he was busy almost every year with commissions either for incidental music to plays, or for works to be produced at Musical Festivals. His Symphonic Suite The Seasons, of which we are to hear the number appropriate to this time of the year (a Harvest Dance), was written, at the request of the authorities, for the Norwich Festival of 1899.
Roy HENDERSON and CHORUS
Three Hunting Songs (with Chorus)