Description
RELEASED ON 4TH JUNE 2021 – NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDERS
TRACKS
Fiddles, Forests and Fowl Fables
Disc 1
1 – The Bremen Town Musicians – Kile Smith. Narrated by Gemma Whelan (14.30)
2 – The Ugly Duckling – Kenneth Woods. Narrated by Hugh Bonneville (18.05)
3 – Lubin, from Chelm – David Yang / orchestrated by Kenneth Woods. Narrated by Henry Goodman (16.30)
Disc 2
1 – The Warrior Violinist – Jay Reise. Narrated by Davood Ghadami. Zoë Beyers, solo violin. (17.56)
2 – Hansel and Gretel – Thomas Kraines. Narrated by Henry Goodman (15.05)
ARTISTS
Gemma Whelan, narrator (The Bremen Town Musicians)
Hugh Bonneville, narrator (The Ugly Duckling)
Henry Goodman, narrator (Lubin, from Chelm / Hansel and Gretel)
Davood Ghadami, narrator (The Warrior Violinist)
English Symphony Orchestra
Kenneth Woods, conductor
RELEASED ON 4TH JUNE 2021 – NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDERS
£17.50
Have you ever been on a long journey with your family and, after hours in the car or on the plane, you were so bored you thought you just might go mad? Well, that’s what this record is for. Just when you’re about to say “are we there yet” for the 400th time, instead try saying “Mum, can we listen to Lubin again?” I promise, the car will feel like it’s going twice as fast once the music starts.
Now, it may come as a surprise to you, but your parents get just as bored and fed up as you do, so we’ve made sure they’ll enjoy these stories just as much as their kids. Just in a different way – there are aspects to all five stories that we are pretty sure older listeners will connect with.
My friend David, who wrote Lubin, from Chelm, got interested in creating new musical storytelling works because he was reading bedtime stories to his two little girls. Several years later, I started writing The Ugly Duckling for my kids when they were little for the same reason. It’s been great over the years to see thousands of young people at our concerts laugh at the exploits of Lubin, the hapless robbers in the Bremen Town Musicians or the grandiose Condessa Duck. But, if we’re able to put a smile on your face on a rainy afternoon at home, or help the trip to your summer holidays go a bit quicker, then we’ll all be very happy.
Enjoy!
Admin –
ARCANA.FM – 20TH APRIL 2021
Richard Whitehouse
https://arcana.fm/2021/04/20/eso-bremen-town-musicians/
The English Symphony Orchestra reaches the concluding instalment of its series for virtual storytelling with one of the most appealing fairy tales – The Bremen Town Musicians, here given in a discreetly updated version which preserves its salient narrative and robust charm.
Maybe through its specifically German setting, what is among the more life-enhancing tales by the Brothers Grimm has never enjoyed the popularity of various other such stories (those who remember an enticingly illustrated version published by Ladybird in the 1960s would no doubt disagree!). The more reason, then, why it should not find renewed currency today – not least with the assistance of this online rendering, which has been vividly and imaginatively illustrated by students from Chadsgrove School in the Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove.
The story is breezily and resourcefully told by Gemma Whelan, assuming a variety of accents and intonations to differentiate those characters – donkey, dog, cat and cockerel – who defy imminent demise to become travelling musicians on a journey to Bremen that (at least in this version) they never reach. Their travails and unlikely victory over a band of rural robbers is underpinned with a score by Kile Smith whose echoes of Stravinsky, Hindemith and lesser-known but worthwhile figures such as Walter Piston is effectively geared to events at hand
The ESO musicians play with style and assurance, while Kenneth Woods ensures poise and humour – not least in several meaningful ‘wrong entries’. The overall presentation is sure to win this story new friends and, as usual, a range of sundry material enhances the experience.
Admin –
Richard Whitehouse
https://arcana.fm/2020/12/23/eso-warrior-violinist/
Following on from its uproarious version of Lubin from Chelm [*], the English Symphony Orchestra continues its series of pieces for virtual storytelling in the guise of an old Egyptian tale – here given a contemporary twist to result in the ‘morality’ fable The Warrior Violinist.
This is a parable about being careful what one wishes for. It centres on a youth who plays the violin to exclusion of all else, then finds an even greater other love – the Pharaoh’s daughter. Imagining himself inferior, he bids the Sphinx transform him into a great warrior – in which guise he vanquishes Egypt’s enemies. The princess can love only the man she heard playing the violin and when the warrior tries to reclaim his former prowess, he finds himself unable to play – the Sphinx’s warning that no-one can be changed back having proven only too true.
Davood Ghadami is a personable and thoughtful narrator; his understatement enabling one to focus on a musical score that, even more than the previous two in this series, packs a wealth of incident into a through-composed score which is effortlessly sustained over its 18 minutes. A tribute, indeed, to the initiative of Jay Reise in having elaborated a piece written almost a decade ago for this Art of Storytelling series. Not the least of its attractions is the extensive role allotted solo violin, played here by Zoë Beyers with no mean poise and resourcefulness.
The remaining ESO musicians play with skill and sensitivity, while Kenneth Woods ensures clarity of texture even in denser passages. The production should provoke children and adults alike – and, as usual with ESO, a range of sundry material enhances the overall experience.
Admin –
ARCANA.FM – 11TH APRIL 2021
Richard Whitehouse
https://arcana.fm/2021/04/11/eso-hansel/
The English Symphony Orchestra reaches the penultimate instalment of its series for virtual storytelling with one of the most enduring among fairy tales – Hansel and Gretel, here given in the more abrasive version such as leaves little or no room for sentimental embellishments.
Although it has always been a parable for the playing-off of good against evil, the intensified recent concern about the exploitation of children has given this story a more ominous undertow. Little of that was emphasized here, yet the scenario remains one where the brutal corrupting of innocence is foremost; whether in the guise of the stepmother, rendered here in scarifying Irish, or that of the witch whose tendency to caricature is judged to a nicety. That neither children nor woodcutter exudes much in the way of persona may itself be significant.
As will have been realized, Henry Goodman is an animated and appealing narrator as he leads the listener through a story where incident likely counts for more than the ultimate destination. The score itself shows Thomas Kraines’s knack for moving across genres and styles with real sureness of touch, alighting on elements of German romanticism and expressionism to inflect those highpoints of the narrative. That the theme for the stepmother and the witch is a 12-note row brings a fresh perspective to a conceit whose lineage stretches back over nearly a century.
As in previous instalments the ESO musicians play with skill and sensitivity, Kenneth Woods ensuring clarity and balance even in the densest textures. The presentation is sure to provoke children of all ages and, as usual, a range of sundry material enhances the overall experience.
Admin –
“What a delightful release! Fiddles, Forests, and Fowl Fables is a collection of narrated children’s stories, set to specially composed music by five contemporary composers. The English Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Kenneth Woods (who also wrote the Ugly Duckling setting on this disc), teams up with four wonderful narrators to tell these five stories that run the gamut from adventurous to heartwarming to outrageous, to cautionary. The familiar tales of The Ugly Duckling and Hansel and Gretel are given new, colorful treatments by Kenneth Woods and Thomas Kraines respectively. The Bremen Town Musicians is set to a spritely, high-spirited score by Kile Smith, and Kenneth Woods’s music for The Ugly Duckling has an idyllic warmth to it. All in all, the music and the stories are well suited to one another.
The narrations, by four prominent British actors, are brilliant, and perfect for each story. I particularly love Henry Goodman’s narration and voice acting in Lubin, of Chelm (which I erroneously thought was an Isaac Bashevis Singer story, because of its setting in Chelm. Turns out that it’s a retelling of the English tale Lazy Jack, convincingly transplanted to a Ukrainian shtetl). Goodman peppers the stories with Yiddish expressions and tells it with the vivacity of a great storyteller; it’s a wildly entertaining and loving tribute to the great Yiddish storytelling tradition. David Yang’s score lends local color to the story with imaginative use of the klezmer idiom. Goodman also portrays all five characters of Hansel and Gretel with virtuosic zest. The stop the orchestra-and-start again gimmick of Gemma Whelan’s The Bremen Town Musicians narration is a fun little touch, and Hugh Bonneville (of Downton Abbey fame) narrates The Ugly Duckling with poise and warmth. The versatility of Davood Ghadami’s narration of The Warrior Violinist is a mellifluous counterpoint to Jay Reise’s whimsical, sometimes unsettling, music.
These are musical stories in the lineage of Peter and the Wolf, and a great way to introduce children to this imaginative medium; as somebody who just became a first-time dad, I’m sure I’ll be introducing my daughter to the stories on this disc. Kenneth Woods’s booklet note, written for children, is nothing short of endearing. Recommended for parents with little tykes and anybody who enjoys the fun of storytelling. Andrew Desiderio – Fanfare Magazine