related works
Genre:
Unknown
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Vocal ensemble (2-12) and orchestra
Scoring:
sopr-m bar recit 4444 4331 3perc pf str
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Vocal ensemble (2-12) and orchestra
Scoring:
sopr alt str
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Vocal ensemble (2-12) and orchestra
Scoring:
sopr alt ten bas 2fl fl(fl-a pic) 2ob eh 2cl cl-b 2fg cfg 4h 4trp 3trb tb timp perc mar vibr cel hp str(12.12.10.8.6.)
composition
Londonsong : for soprano, baritone and orchestra, 1997 / on English traditional rhymes, Ron Ford
Other authors:
Ford, Ron
(Composer)
Contains:
Knightsbridge
Peckham rye
King's cross
Cornhill
Hammersmith
Shepherd's bush
The Welsh harp
The angel
Description:
Program note (English): Londonsong can be characterized as a collection of eight short - sometimes very short - songs that are joined into one continuous chain. The text come from the collection Nursery Rhymes of London Town by Eleanor Farjon from 1916 although these are not children's poems in the strict sense. In form, they exhibit the short phrases and images characteristic of children's poetry, but the texts themselves go beyond that of a simple children's poem. They describe playful and fantasy-like images of different locations in London. The quickly changing emotions and clear-cut formal structure of the texts made a setting for two singers necassary, wherein they sing together sometimes, other as a monologue, and sometimes together in dialogue. But Londonsong should be seen as more than just a set of songs, it is rather a chain of glimpses, wherein themes appear and vanish, only tp reappear later under a different guise. The use of the orchestra is very diverse, sometimes vertically harmonic,
sometimes no more than a shadow of the voice line, and sometimes almost percussive, all of which results in an undercurrent of image and meaning, an extra voice. - RON FORD