SCHEHERAZADE

 

 

On Friday night the Prom was Scheherazade, live from the Albert Hall. I have listened to it three times since then. It’s one of those pieces that are very dependent on the quality of the conductor and the quality of the orchestra. I have a 33rpm vinyl LP of it upstairs in the loft but haven’t tried to download it because it isn’t all that great; but this live concert conducted by a visiting American, James Gaffigan with the BBC Symphony Orchestra was terrific, I thought.

When we were teenagers and we acquired our first Dansette record player [pretty much the last family in the street] we were each permitted to choose one record each. I selected the Jailhouse Rock EP -  - You Don’t Like Crazy Music, You Don’t Like Rockin’ Bands, etc. My younger brother chose The Chirpin’ Crickets - -  Maybe Baby and so on, which we still own to this day although they remain in my loft, unplayed. My Dad had something by Ella but I don’t know what happened to it and my mother took Scheherazade. So, it became a large part of my early musical education. The recording was a masterpiece I have since realised; every player a virtuoso. I can’t remember who the conductor was or which orchestra but something in my memory banks suggests they were Russian.

It’s not Brahms, it isn’t Beethoven. It isn’t intellectual in that way but I love it and it so reminds me of my mother and her love of all Classical music, including Brahms and Beethoven  -  -  quietly playing in the background as she went about her life.