OLGA HALEY (soprano)
DENNIS NOBLE (baritone)
THE HALLE CHORUS
(Chorus Master, HAROLD DAWBER)
THE HALLE ORCHESTRA
(Leader, ALFRED BARKER)
Conducted by Sir THOMAS BEECHAM
Relayed from The Free Trade Hall, Manchester
A DELIUS CONCERT
Eventyr (Once Upon a Time)
Intermezzo, The Walk to the Paradise
Garden (A Village Romeo and Juliet)
Songs of Sunset (for Soprano and Baritone solo, Chorus and Orchestra)
'EVENTYR' means 'Once upon a time', and this work is a ballad for orchestra founded on fairy tales by the Norwegian, Asbjornsen. It was composed in 1917 and first performed at a Queen's Hall Symphony Concert under Sir Henry Wood in 1919.Â
EVER SINCE Thomas Beecham, confident in the genius of his friend Delius, gave performances of The Village Romeo and Juliet in 1910 at the Covent Garden Theatre, this Intermezzo from the Opera has been heard, although too infrequently, in the concert hall. Yet, even divorced from the Opera it appeals as a little tone poem.
Sali and Vreli are the 'Romeo and Juliet' who have suffered in their love for each other from the bitter enmity of their parents. They meet again after a cruel separation, and determine to have one day of pleasure together. They go to a neighbouring fair, happy in each other's company; there they are recognised and worried by importunate questions. Anxious to be wholly alone, they leave the fair and walk to the Paradise Garden, which is an inn, formerly the manor house of a ruined country estate. The music describes their walk, and though the opera ends in tragedy, this little journey passes in serene and happy communion.
