'Carnival of Animals'

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 40, 17 April 1931, Page 4

'Carnival of Animals'

Zoological F ancy from 2VYA AINT-SAENS’ "Carnival of the Animals" is to be played by the 2YA Salon Orchestra on Tuesday, April 21. This "Grand Zoological Fantasy" was written in. 1886 as a joke, for a private concert. In it, Saint-Saens gives musical portraits of fish, flesh and fowl, and indulges in ironical wit, in a . little satire upon the human animal. ‘For some reason he insisted that the work as a whole should not be published until after his death. One movement escaped the ban, and became extremely popular-the charming ’cello solo entitled "The Swan." No, 1. "Introduction and Royal Lion’s March." An amusingly gradiose circus-entry, with very effective roars from His Majesty. No. 2. "Hens and Cocks." Pianos and strings, with clarinet. The fiddle’s "cock-a-doodle- doo" is very lifelike. No. 3. "Hemioni" (swift animals). Wild asses caper about all over the keyboards. No. 4. "Tortoises." A well-known lively tune from Offenbach’s "Orpheus" is .played extremely slowly with comical effect. No. 5: "The Elephant." The double bass (or, in another version, the tuba) treads in a lumbering fashion a measure from the Ballet of Sylphs in Berlioz’ "Faust." No. 6. "Kangaroos." Agile skips on the pianos. No, 7. "Aquarium." An impression of the lithe dartg and flashes of fish.

SU ee URS ITS me The piano,‘in arpeggios, and the harmonica, suggest the undulating, shimmering surface of the water. No. 8. "Long-eared Personages." Two violins imitate the mournful brays of donkeys. No. 9. "The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Wood." The clarinet gives the bird’s familiar call, against a background of piano tone. No. 10. "The Aviary." Pianos and flute imitate various bird-notes, while strings, trembling, suggest the flutter of wings. The cuckoo is heard again at the end of the movement. No, 11. "Pianists." These weird beings play finger-exercises, after the fashion of the child next door, from whose early fumblings we have all suffered. yr No. 12. "Fossils." Bits of we orn French tunes are scattered about. The inclusion of the dance of skeletons, from Saint-Saens’ "Danse Macabre," is appropriate, though in one sense those bones’ whose rattling is so much enjoyed by audiences, cannot be said to be fossilised, No. 18. "The Swan." A graceful tune for solo ’cello. accompanied by the two pianos. The melody’s outline, on paper, is curiously like the curves of a swan. No. 14, "Finale." A brilliant display by all hands, to wind up.