[New electronic performance]
for string quintet (2 violins 1 viola and 2 cellos)
Marie for shame
Stream MarieNocturne
Stream the nightCamp David
Stream the campBlue Boar Blue
Stream the boar
If you would lie to hear the suite uninterrupted (15 minutes) it is available here in its complete form.
Story behind the piece:
"Marie for shame" comes from the Ronsard poem as translated by my father: Marie for shame you keep your bed too long. . . . The poem is one of those typical "gather ye rosebuds while ye may" conceits so beloved of the renaissance era.
"Nocturne" (assuming that Marie nevertheless stayed in her bed till sundown!) is an extravaganza of early twentieth century song harmonies. (This is my personal "death by chocolate" composition: compare "Lay a Garland" by Pearsall and Barber's "Adagio" if you desire to swim and swoon in yet more chocolate!)
"Camp David" is a jolly and rather camp skit on the traditional Yiddish song "Ich bin a meidel in de joren"
"Blue Boar Blue" is based on a quasi-blues song I wrote based on Mark Haviland's poem of the same name
"Today was a summery Saturday
a day for reading Rabelais
a day to laze your cares away
today has been a symphony in green
a menthol flavoured dream...
But the dream was made for two
and the number two is you. . . . "
This new, more realistic and exciting performance of the whole quintet was created using the Synful orchestra
The score and parts of this suite can be obtained
in downloadable pdf format from My Score Store
or in paper copy from Da Capo Music Ltd
