RICHARD BLACKFORD
Aquarium
from Carnival of The Animals, orchestrated by Richard Blackford VII Aquarium
for classical symphony orchestra and no pianos
Aquarium
Orchestrating Carnival of the Animals for symphony orchestra provided an opportunity to re-interpret Saint-Saens magical score with new colours and no pianos! The sensuous, full textures of soft muted brass, cascading harp, gurgling woodwind, made each movement a delight to animate.
from Carnival of the Animals orchestrated by Richard BlackfordVII Aquarium 3 minutes
Orchestration
2 Flutes
Oboe
2 Clarinets
2 Bassoons
Harp Percussion
2 Violins
Viola
Violoncello
Double Bass
Having completed the score for The Great Animal Orchestra in 2014 I searched for a good companion piece on a similar theme. Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals (1886) contains some of the most exquisite and much-loved music of all time, and it’s a measure of its masterly composition that it continues to have as many live performances as it does, considering the difficulty of finding the two pianos that are featured along nine other players. In orchestrating it for a classical symphony orchestra and no pianos I thought it would be an opportunity to re-interpret Saint-Saens magical score with new instrumental colours. In my orchestration every movement features alternative instrumentation to the original. For example, the famous cello solo for Le Cygne is given to a dreamy solo horn, the double bass Elephant becomes a contrabassoon solo, and Saint-Saens’ xylophone, depicting Fossils, becomes a clattering texture of strings beating their strings with the wood of their bows (col legno battuto) and temple blocks. But it is the sensuous, full textures of which an orchestra is capable that most attracted me to the project, and each of the fourteen movements was a delight to animate with soft muted brass, cascading harp, gurgling woodwind, and no pianos. Which leaves the thorny question of the movement challengingly entitled Pianistes…. I took the proverbial bull (not one of our menagerie) by the horns and, adding an apocryphal Imaginaires to the movement’s title, launched the orchestra into a display of scales and arpeggios featuring each section in ever accelerating tempo and virtuosity. Some effects unknown to Saint-Saens, like the screech of violins played beyond the bridge, help animate animals like the braying donkey, while other movements employ flutter-tonguing woodwind and string and harp harmonics to create delicate new textures. I hope the shade of Saint-Saens will take my hommage in the same good humour in which he wrote Le Carnaval des Animaux for his friends, and that this new orchestration will give lovers of his masterpiece some of the pleasure it gave me to orchestrate it.
Richard Blackford 23.4.14
Violin
Violoncello
Double Bass Clarinet
B ? ?
& B ?
Vc.
Vl. I
Vl. II
Vla.
Vc.
B b Cl.
Hrp.
Short Pieces for Orchestra
Nimbus and Lyrita have published a series of shorter orchestral works by Augusta Read Thomas, Richard Blackford and George Lloyd. These Short Pieces for Orchestra (SPO) will be sold with a three-year, unlimited performance licence offering much better value for money than typical hire arrangements. Some pieces have been extracted from larger symphonic works and each is published with a descriptive name to support thematic programming and engage with the new “streaming” audience. This series supports the desire to perform, programme and introduce audiences to new repertoire for less initial cost, and allows multiple performances for no additional cost. Each kit will contain a full conductors score and one “master part” per instrument along with a licence for the ensemble to copy and perform as often as they like for the next three years. Between three and fifteen minutes SPO are perfect for opening your concert or inserting just before the interval to create a talking point.
NMP1133 Fanfare of Hope and Solidarity, Augusta Read Thomas (4:00)
Majestic, optimistic, blazing, and passionate, yet, in the centre of the piece, a robust expressive an eloquent lyrical passage unfolds a range of emotions. The composition ends as if reaching skyward - affirming and hopeful – as bells’ resonance hangs in the air like sunlight ripples.
NMP1171 Sunburst, a fanfare for Orchestra, Augusta Read Thomas (7:00) Celebratory and Optimistic. A flash of sunlight through a break in clouds. Rays diverging from a central point like the sun. Ideal for a youth, community or college orchestra requiring very small percussion.
NMP1026 Plea for Peace, for Soprano and String Orchestra, Augusta Read Thomas (6:00)
The soloist’s elegant, wordless vocalise weaves in and out of the sustained harmonies in graceful counterpoint, drawing us closer to our common humanity. Simple harmonies slowly transform, becoming rich and complex at the insistent, dramatic climax: a wordless scream from the soul then a sonic space of meditation, reflecting on an absolute plea for lasting peace.
NMP1266 Plea for Peace, for Soprano and Wind Ensemble, Augusta Read Thomas (6:00)
The soloist’s elegant, wordless vocalise weaves in and out of the sustained harmonies in graceful counterpoint, drawing us closer to our common humanity. Simple harmonies slowly transform, becoming rich and complex at the insistent, dramatic climax: a wordless scream from the soul then a sonic space of meditation, reflecting on an absolute plea for lasting peace.
NMP1077 Canticle of Winter for soprano saxophone & string orchestra, Richard Blackford (7:00)
The sense of restlessness, of something unresolved, despite the beauty of the winter landscape, permeates the music. Soft, sustained and melancholic, is contrasted with rhythmic string writing against exuberant flurries and plangent sound of the soprano saxophone that evokes a traveller’s journey through the winter night. Inspired by Robert Frost’s poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep…,
NMP1008 Spirited, an aspirational overture, Richard Blackford (6:00)
A sense of hushed anticipation and excitement, a trumpet presents a heroic theme, punctuated by ricochet timpani. A solo horn plays the main theme of aspiration which is taken up by violins before bringing us back to the heroic trumpet and bright, dancing violin.
NMP1255 Clarissa’s Tango for violin and String orchestra, Richard Blackford (4:00)
The violin and orchestra capture the sound and essence of Tango creating an evocative dance between the instruments. The violin has leads with a short, cadenza-like introduction while the orchestra guides their interplay with exciting riffs. An ebullient duet making virtuoso demands on the violin with high tessitura passages and multi-stops to fast passages of the tango melody.
NMP1006 The Better Angels of Our Nature, for oboe and String orchestra, Richard Blackford (15:00)
Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address on March 4th 1861 is theme for this short concerto for oboe and strings. Divided into two continuous movements, separated by Taps, the bugle call played for funerals or at sunset. “We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
NMP1267 Glory - Movement III La Sagrada Família Symphony, Richard Blackford (8:00)
The Glory Façade is the temple’s most important and exudes an aura of mystery, awe, and majesty. The Lord’s Prayer appears in fifty languages on the Eucharist door, with Catalan shining out in polished bronze. The opening horn solo quotes the Gregorian Credo plainsong (No.6), the music appears suspended in time, without pulse, giving a sense of music in different tempi. The coda re-affirms the Credo motifs over a sustained pedal note, now in sharp focus, before resolving finally in a blaze of sound.
NMP1268 Aquarium - Movement 7, Carnival of the Animals orchestrated by Richard Blackford (3:00)
Orchestrating Carnival of the Animals for symphony orchestra provided an opportunity to re-interpret Saint-Saens magical score with new colours and no pianos! The sensuous, full textures of soft muted brass, cascading harp, gurgling woodwind, made each movement a delight to animate.
SRMP0138 An Arctic Stillness from Symphony No. 4 ‘The Arctic’ II Lento tranquillo, George Lloyd (13:00)
A glacial coldness from the strings punctuated by warmer solos from oboe and clarinet. The strings expand the texture but without breaking the sombre mood. A brighter character with rustling strings supporting woodwind solos leads to a soulful melody where the role of strings and woodwind is reversed, arriving at a climactic cadence from the timpani. The opening mood of stillness returns.
SRMP0139 Day and Night in the City from Symphony No. 4 ‘The Arctic’ III Allegro scherzando George Lloyd (14:00)
Elements of Berlioz and a straightforward ABA structure. After the opening bustle there is an adagio contrast where the string and woodwind groups gently duet with each other. Waking to life again, the opening material returns and is interrupted by a short chorale before closing with a tutti restatement of the opening themes.
SRMP0140 Hall of Mirrors from Charade ‘Scenes from the 60s’ II LSD, George Lloyd (7:00)
Echoes of Debussy and Delius. A haunting, or perhaps haunted trip; the composer’s original title for the piece, written in the swinging 1960s, was simply LSD. It is a short energising overture, orchestrated with great skill, an appetiser.
SRMP0141 Comedy of Manners from Charade ‘Scenes from the 60s’ III March-In, George Lloyd (4:00)
First class light music, where a circus atmosphere meets farce. A nonchalant, brisk march.
SRMP0142 Flying Saucers from Charade ‘Scenes from the 60s’ IV Flying Saucers, George Lloyd (6:00)
A light scherzo, poking gentle fun at the sky-watchers of the mid-twentieth century who saw aliens behind every cloud. The dramatic, dissonant passage near the end conjures up images of an extra-terrestrial encounter, yet the whimsical closing bars suggest there is no cause for alarm.
SRMP0143 Politics and Pomp from Charade ‘Scenes from the 60s’ VI Party Politics, George Lloyd (4:00)
Two political parties are talking at us in a light moto-perpetuo scherzo. Selfimportant ideas are introduced on the lower strings and woodwind while the mock-heroic and cartoonish thoughts are ushered in by flutes and clarinets. Both themes are inflated, truncated, and gleefully distorted, inspiring colourful and inventive orchestration. In the closing section both parties gang up on us as the two tunes merge harmoniously together’. Gently satirical, cheerfully irreverent.
For more information contact: www.wyastone.co.uk publishing@wyastone.co.uk
