(From Birmingham)
THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM POLICE BAND
Conducted by Richard WASSELL
HORACE RALPH (Violin)
WATCYN WATCYNS
(Baritone)
EDOUARD LALO, best known to us in this country by his sparkling ' Symphonie Espagnole,' is recognized abroad as having blazed the trail for the modern French school of which Debussy, Dukas, and d'Indy were the illustrious founders. All three acknowledged his great influence, and all of them paid him the sincere tribute of studying his work deeply; it is recorded that each of them knew by heart his masterpiece, the opera Namouna, produced in Paris in 1882. Falling on the ear always with a happy sense of freshness, Lalo's music has those qualities of vivid colour which are proof against the staleness which repetition may involve, and does indeed involve with music of less intrinsic charm.
The Norwegian Rhapsody appeared first as a Fantasia for Violin and Orchestra. Later, Lalo arranged it for orchestra alone, and added a second, much livelier, section. The tunes are not actual folk melodies, but are modelled on popular Norwegian airs.