Royal Lullabies - Soothing Music
for a Royal Baby
see end of review for track listing and performance details
MEMORY LANE GLM/Y-69 [73:52]
How appropriate to be finishing the review of this
disc on the very day that the new Royal baby arrives!
Like any new mother, the Duchess of Cambridge will rapidly discover
that the best way to get a baby to sleep is to post it in front of the
washing machine, where the white noise and limited view will bore it
into a deep slumber. But before Bosch, Miele, Hotpoint et al muscled
in on the act, most mothers sang their babies to sleep with songs, or
lullabies, handed down through the generations.
But ‘Twinkle twinkle little Star’ and ‘Hush Little
Baby’ this is not! It’s a wholly orchestral disc, ‘especially
prepared to bring contentment and peace to a baby’; a compilation
of ‘timeless melodies that bring peace, a feeling of warmth and
tranquillity’, to adults and children alike.
Without a doubt, it is a collection of some of the best known gentle
melodies by some of the greatest composers from myriad countries. And
performed by some of the most outstanding orchestras, led by some outstanding
conductors. These include Carmen Dragon (whose son Daryl Dragon was
half of the pop duo Captain and Tenille’, Leopold Stokowski, Sir
Thomas Beecham, Herbert von Karajan and Jean Martinon to name but a
few. Sadly, none of them are alive to see the birth of the new Royal
Prince, and a scant half survived long enough to see Prince William
born.
Thereafter, the choice of music is ‘interesting’. Few of
the pieces were actually composed for children. There are three pieces
entitled ‘Berceuse’; these are wholly acceptable,
translating as it does to ‘Cradle Song’ or ‘Lullaby’.
Of those that were specifically dedicated to children, they weren’t
necessarily written for the composer’s own offspring. Faure’s
Dolly Suite, for instance, is a collection of pieces written
or revised to mark the milestones of his mistress’ daughter. The
featured piece occasioned her first birthday.
Even the Brahms Lullaby, probably the most famous infant melody
known to mankind, and most often heard mechanically tinkling out of
music boxes or wind up mobiles, is not the epitome of innocence it appears,
incorporating, as it does, a hidden counter melody, reflecting a song
sung to Brahms himself by an erstwhile lover.
Schumann’s Traumerei or ‘Dreaming’ is taken
from his ‘Scenes from Childhood’, 13 pieces of music
designed to represent adult reminiscences of his own childhood (it is
also the opening and closing theme to the 1947 Hollywood film ‘Song
of Love’ starring Katharine Hepburn).
The other pieces are quite delightful in themselves but bear little
relation to lullabies, babies or royalty. For my preference I’d
have knocked the Massenet’s Elegie off the playlist, as its downward
chromatic passages, whilst perfectly acceptable to the adult ear, could
easily invoke the presence of the bogyman to a young child. Likewise
I’d take a miss on Faure’s Pavane, which begins gently enough
but has enough crashing climaxes to wake a cemetery, let alone a half
dormant infant.
There’s a good chance that A Musical Snuffbox may turn
out to be Baby Cambridge’s favoured track. Good luck to Kate explaining
what one of those is to her young boy! I had enough trouble describing
the concept of the vinyl record to my children!
Is this a disc of Royal Lullabies? Not really. Would I be horribly cynical
in suggesting that this was a gently taken opportunity to dress up some
elderly recordings of beautiful music for resale? There was the potential
here to commission some new material by contemporary composers in commemoration
of the Royal birth. But it wasn’t taken.
As for Prince Cambridge, I heartily hope he’ll hear his mother
sing to him night after night. That’s the way it should be.
Overall, this is still a lovely disc to possess. Published by Memory
Lane, it will doubtless be a reminder of 2013 and the Royal birth. Comprising
a compilation of classical favourites, it’s probably a bit cheeky
to be calling it ‘Royal Lullabies’ (Soothing Music for a
Royal Baby), but hey ho! What’s in a name? Although to the currently
unnamed Prince, probably quite a lot!
Jo Edwards
Details
1. Lullaby (Brahms) [2.24]
2. Serenade from ‘Schwanengesang’ [4.41]
3. Traumerei from ‘Kinderszenen’ [3.31]
4. Elegie (Massenet) [4.02]
5. Clair de Lune from ‘Suite Bergamasque’ [5.31]
6. Pavane (Faure) [5.14]
7. A Musical Snuffbox [2.09]
8. Aquarium from the ‘The Carnival of the Animals’
[2.25]
9. Venus from ‘The Planets’ Suite conducting the
[8.24]
10. Italiana from ‘Ancient Airs & Dances’ Suite No
3 [3.45]
11. Clarinet Concerto in A - Second Movement (Mozart) [8.55]
12. Nocturne from ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’
conducting the [6.27]
13. Berceuse from ‘Dolly’ Suite [3.25]
14. Solveig’s Song from ‘Peer Gynt’ Suite No 2
[3.25]
15. Adagietto from ‘L’Arlesienne’ Suite No 1
[2.44]
16. Berceuse from ‘Jeux d’Enfants’ [3.07]
17. Berceuse (Jarnefelt) [3.33]
Capitol SO (1,14,15,17) Hollywood Bowl SO (2-4)/Carmen Dragon
Leopold Stokowski and his Symphony Orchestra (5)
l’ORTF Ntl O/Sir Thomas Beecham (6,13)
Royal PO/Efrem Kurtz (7)
Leo Litwin & Samuel Lipman, Boston Pops O/Arthur Fiedler (8)
Vienna PO/Herbert von Karajan (9)
Philharmonia Hungarica/Antal Dorati (10)
Jack Brymer, Royal PO/Sir Thomas Beecham (11)
London SO/Peter Maag (12)
Paris Conservatoire O/Jean Martinon (16)
No recording dates/venues provided
