(356.3 m. Vision ; 261.3 m. Sound)

THE B.B.C. ORCHESTRA
(Strings of Section E)
(Leader, MARIE. WILSON)
Conducted by VICTOR HELY-HUTCHINSON
A SERENADE need not be in any specified form, and a composer who sets out to write one is free of the restrictions which ought to bind him if a symphony is the tnsk in hand. But in the first movement of this light-hearted piece for strings Tchaikovsky has chosen the form of a sonatina-a sonata in miniature. There is a short, rather solemn Introduction and then a bright, quick movement with the usual two tunes, stated, briofly developed and repeated. At the end there is a short reminder of tho Introduction. The second movement is a Waltz, and listeners know well by this time what good-going waltz tunes Tchaikovsky could write. The third has a hint of melancholy which pervades a good deal of modern Russian music, but it has its brighter moments, too. The tune with which it opens is a simple one, easily recognized, and remembered. The last movement is based on a very simple Russian tune, made up of only five notes of the ecale. Like the first movement, it bogins with a slow introduction, after which the merry tune is presented in several varied guises.