A Carol Symphony

 

Der irische Komponist Victor Hely-Hutchinson, dessen bekanntestes Werkerklingen soll, hat damit in der Tat einen musikalischen »long-seller« geschaffen — von einer absolut bemerkenswerten Qualität (was ja nicht unbedingt von allen solchen Werken in langdauernder Publikumsgunst gesagt werden kann, denn die meisten dieser sind bloß gefällige »Ohrwürmer« ohne tiefere Bedeutung ...). Aber die Carol Symphony verdient durchaus ihren Ruhm — v.a. im angelsächsischen Bereich, von dem sie rechtens endlich auch bei uns bekannter und beheimatet werden sollte!

 

 

 Zur Einstimmung ein Auszug aus dem unter dem Youtube-Video gebrachten Einführungstext:

"A Carol Symphony" is really more a sequence of 'preludes' rather than movements in a classical or traditional sense. Some critics have worried about its internal cohesion, but typically most have been impressed by the unity of the work considering the small number of carols that the composer used. Each movement is based on a single carol, with allusions to others, although the scherzo and the finale do have additional material. The entire work was designed to be played without a break; although there are short pauses between the movements in the recordings". 

 

I took these photographs in York, York Minster (cathedral); various places in the Peak District National Park, including a few pictures of this year's C. S. Lewis "Narnia" theme for Christmas at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, England. The final slide is a photograph of "The Wilton Diptych" (c. 1395--1399) a small portable diptych of two hinged panels painted on both sides (tempera on oak) now in the National Gallery, London. It is an extremely rare survival of a late Medieval religious panel painting from England.