A short but very sweet and genial programme this; and guaranteed to
bring a smile to a face jaded, perhaps, by too much solemn music.
Solemnity begins Vieuxtemps’
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Variations before the entry of the famous theme and amusement follows. The
piece gives Khakhamov every opportunity to show off flashy virtuosity. The
same applies to flautist Oleg Sergeev through the presto tempi of the
Bumblebee’s flight.
Shostakovich’s naughtiness delights through his
Golden Age
Polka; one can imagine how this little gem deflated bureaucratic
pomposity. His
Galop is full of genial busyness, the
Dance III
is bright and merry and the
Humoresque-Waltz has a toy music-box
charm.
The
Galop from Khachaturian’s
Masquerade Suite
has a coy middle section surrounded by appealing scampering cheekiness. The
Françaix
Saxophone serenade is a saucy romp reminding one of
Satie.
Margaret Ruthven Lang’s settings of Edward Lear’s
limericks score highly with Lucy Mauro’s droll piano accompaniments to
Donald George’s whimsical deliveries. We can laugh at: the old man in
the tree stung by a beeeee bzzzz; at the old person of Cassel whose nose
finished off in a tassel; at the old man of Dumbree who taught little owls
to drink tea - but not mice!; at the old person of Jodd whose ways were
perplexingly odd; and the old lady of France who taught little ducklings to
dance; and finally the languorous sleepy young lady of Parma.
The funniest of all the songs is
The Green-Eyed Dragon.
Children are warned to beware of his ferocity -“… he has lived
for years and years and he never grew any thinner and loves policemen pie or
an MP for dinner. And he has paid no income tax!...”
A tonic.
Ian Lace
Track listing
Henri VIEUXTEMPS (1820-1881)
Souvenire d’Amérique, Variations on Yankee Doodle*
(1844)
[4.53]
Dmitry Khakhamov (violin)
Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908)
Flight of the Bumble Bee * (1899-1900) [1.09]
Oleg Sergeev (flute)
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Galop * (VI) from
Ballet Suite No. 1 (1949) [1.32]
Polka * from
The Golden Age (1929-30) [2.14]
Dance (III) * from
Ballet Suite No. 3 (1953) [2.06]
Humoresque-Waltz * from
Ballet Suite No. 1 (1949) [2.52]
Sérénade Comique from
Petit Quatuor pour
Saxophones
Aram KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978)
Masquerade Suite -
Galop (1944) [2.54]
Philharmonia of Russia/Constantine Orbelian
Jean FRANÇAIX (1912-1997)
(1935) [2.06]
Italian Saxophone Quartet
Margaret RUTHVEN LANG (1867-1972)
From
Nonsense Rhymes and Pictures (1905-1907?):-
There Was an Old Man in a Tree [1.44]
There Was an Old Person of Cassel [1.43]
There Was an Old Man of Dumbree [1.11]
There Was an Old Person of Jodd [1.37]
There Was an Old Lady of France [1.24]
There Was a Young Lady of Parma [2.30]
Donald George (tenor); Lucy Mauro (piano)
Wolseley CHARLES (1889-1962)
The Green-Eyed Dragon (?) [3.06]
John Aler (tenor) and Grant Gershon (piano)
* Moscow Chamber Orchestra/Constantine Orbelian
Compilation comprises excerpts from six previous Delos releases
