Birch Tree, The
By Diana Weston, Thoroughbass
Regular price
$25.00
The theme of this recording is music inspired by folkmusic. Diana Weston (harpsichord) and the ensemble Thoroughbass have recorded this wonderful collection of tunes by composers such as, Mary Mageau, Béla Bartók, May Howlett, Ann Carr-Boyd and Elena Kats-Chernin.Folk melody and rhythm can be found permeating works from all centuries and genres up to the present. For the French of the 17th and 18th centuries, it formed the backbone of a national style, albeit one with a sophisticated overlay (the dance suite). For some composers, like Bartók, folkmusic became the stuff of their compositional voice. For others like Ann Carr-Boyd, adaptation of folksong was a way of approaching a wide variety of audiences of different ethnic backgrounds. Her new composition, Suite for Diana, follows this trend, as does Elena Kats-Chernin’s The Birch Tree, both composed for Thoroughbass in 2014 and recorded here for the first time. Thematically overlapping Bartók’s miniature pieces ‘For Children’ (arguably ‘about’ children as much as ‘for’ children) are four songs for children by May Howlett. Both composers recognize the complexity of childhood in music that is expressive and authentic, innocent and above all, fun.
Wirr 068
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1 Variations on Scarborough Fair (Mary Mageau)
For Children - Hungarian (Béla Bartók)
2 No. 4 Pillow Dance
3 No. 6 Study for left hand
4 No. 10 Children's Dance
5 No. 11 6 No. 17 Round Dance
7 No. 18 Soldier's Song
8 No. 26 9 No. 28 Choral 10 No. 31
11 No. 38 Winter Solstice Song
12 No. 40 Swineherd's Dance
13 The Littlest Dragon 14 The Cat
15 The Dog 16 Flutter by, My Butterfly
Suite for Diana (Ann Carr-Boyd)
17 The Wild Colonial Boy
18 Interlude 119 Two Latvian Folksongs
20 Interlude 2 21 Gulumkan 22 Interlude 2a
For Children - Slovakian (Béla Bartók)
23 No. 1 24 No. 6 Round Dance
25 No. 7 Sorrow
26 No. 10 Funeral Dance 27 No. 11 28 No. 17 29 No. 18 Teasing Song
30 No. 19. Romance
31 No. 20 Game of Tag
32 No. 22 Revelry 33 No. 25 Scherzando
34 No. 26 Peasant's Flute
35 No. 28 Choral 36 No. 33
37 No. 34 Farewell 38 No. 38 Dirge
39 The Birch Tree (Elena Kats-Chernin)
