for chorus and orchestra
The BBC Chorus
The BBC Orchestra
(Section B)
Leader, .Paul Beard
Conducted by Leslie Woodgate
Powell Lloyd (tenor)
Samuel Worthington (bass)
Thomas Wood, author, traveller, composer, and folk-song collector, is surely one of the most versatile of living musicians. His broad outlook on life and keen sense of humour permeate all he does.
His choral ballad ' Daniel and the Lions ' was first performed at a studio concert in January last year. The words are by the American poet, Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931) and are well known under the title ' The Daniel Jazz '. It is a poetic fantasy and in it Darius the Mede has for his chief hired man one Daniel. As well as ' Stirring up the jazz in the palace band ', Daniel was the butler who had to answer the bell to ' Saints so holy, scamps so appalling'. Among the visitors are Ahab, Elisha, Pharaoh, Cain and his wife, Shadrach, Meshach, and Adbednego, St. Peter, Judas, Beelzebub, Jonah, the Whale, and the Sea. It is all fantastic nonsense, giving Wood an excellent opportunity of showing his musical versatility.