Programme note

This is a treat for anybody who is nostalgic for British Light Music and those frivolous but highly crafted pieces by composers such as Eric Coates, Ronald Binge and Eric Fenby. Their works often featured on the BBC Light Programme and lifted the spirits after World War Two.

The dance commemorates an important milestone in Adrian’s career, as it is his very first complete piece, performed in concert when he was still a young teenager. Back then, he wrote it for violin and piano as a humorous pastiche of Norwegian music, with a heavy nod towards Grieg and his character pieces.

Coming back to this treasured piece of juvenilia to orchestrate it, Adrian recognised that a lot of the ideas were not, in fact, quite so Nordic as he initially thought, and so re-titled it.

In its orchestral clothes it still strikes a pretty Scandinavian picture, and is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the rustic folk styles so prized by Grieg. There are also echoes of the joie-de-vivre and musical anarchy of Milhaud and his compatriots. Wherever you trace its roots, it makes for a great party-piece.

Words by Jon James

(extract perf. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Michael Seal)